Mr not so lonely anymore
by Jimmy-The-Girl
Summary: Mathew tries to be content with his life, He's used to not having anyone to talk to but his twin Alfred. Even with him he often feels unimportant and lonely. As the days go by Mathew finds himself in need of something more and realizes things may be looking up as a chance encounter and a show of kindness bring excitement into his life.
1. Chapter 1

Mathew was a quite person, he spent a lot of his days reading or drawing. Despite having a brother and two fathers he often felt very alone. He did try to make friends but that was never easy for Mathew. He wasn't easily noticed and when he was, he messed up his chances at companionship by stuttering and being shy beyond belief. Most times he does get noticed was because he looked exactly like his outgoing, ladies' man of a twin brother from the behind, the mistake is usually met with a brief silence, someone apologizing for bothering him and quickly hurrying away. He had pretty much gotten used to that.

He was content with life, it wasn't that he was unhappy or anything, but one can only go so far trying to supplement family for friends. Mathew really needed someone else to talk to besides his twin brother, Alfred. They were very close, Alfred tells everything to Mattie (as Alfred calls him, a name to tease him about his girlishness). Every party scene, every secret, and Alfred favorite sharing topic, every bodily function!

As comfortable Alfred is with him, Mathew knew that if he ever tried to express how he felt, the news would instantly find they're parent's ears. You see, Alfred is very over protective of Mathew and becomes violent or panicky whenever he finds that something has upset his little Mattie. So Mathew often keep himself bottled up, he hated being fussed over and his father was the best fusser out there. His morning usually starts with his father, Francis, fussing over his school attire, or whether he'd eaten enough or not. Mathew tried his best to ease his father's worries but Francis would go on forever if Arthur didn't step in. His other father. Honestly, Alfred and Arthur were closer than Mathew and Arthur. It wasn't that Arthur didn't care about Mattie but he seemed to have the same problems as everyone else when it came to noticing Mathew. He was often over looked by Arthur's eyes. Mathew didn't mind not being close with 'Dad' as long as he kept 'Papa' from fussing over him all morning.

So after he was finally released from his Papa's arms he would head to school with Alfred walking by his side. He would listen patiently as Alfred talked about all what him and his friends are going to do after school, the pranks he's going to pull, what new arcade just opened up and so on. Sometimes Alfred would ask Mathew whether he thought "this new girl" liked him or not and Mathew would usually reply sarcastically or make jokes about Alfred's face. Alfred would always laugh and throw an insult back. Alfred was the only person he could talk so relaxed with. Once at school, he didn't see Alfred very much, he was always off with his friends doing some sort of mischief. So he would silently walk through the halls consumed in his own thoughts. Today was going better than most, he had already been here half the day and no one has mistaken him of his twin or accidentally shoved him to the ground. Mathew sat in class wondering about what his life would be like if he was like Alfred. Would he be invited to parties every weekend? Would he ask out every girl that caught his eye? Would he draw "male parts" on the white broads or hide the teacher's rulers? Would he even like doing that? Probably not, though it would be nice to have friends. But Mathew didn't think having friends like Alfred's would make him feel less lonely. He'd feel more like a douche in a crowd like that.

He broke out of his thoughts when he heard the bell ring letting him know class was over. He usually waited until everyone left before he tried to leave (to avoid being shoved around) but today he was feeling more confident in his ability to be noticed. Mathew was small and thin, he could easily be knocked over, so while in the busy hall someone had knocked over him and he caught himself on his hands. He should've waited, no one noticed him dusting himself off and grumbling. He adjusted his bag and started off to his next class when a voice sounded behind him.

Mathew sighed and said "S-sorry, not Alfred." He turned to see a pale boy, his eyes were red and sharp yet something seemed to be troubling him. He wore black skinny jeans and a white T-shirt written all over with a black marker saying things like 'I'M AWESOME' or 'if you were looking for awesome well…you've just found it', there was also a small illustration of a baby bird of some kind on the shoulder.

"What? No, I was just wondering if you were ok" the boy said this while his eyes searched Mathew's face. His voice ringed in Mattie's ears, it had been so long since somebody wanted to talk to _him,_ even if this guy only wanted to ask if he was ok it was nice that it wasn't an accidental conversation. Teachers hardly ever say anything to him.

"Um, thank you." His voice was quiet and meek when he spoke, Mathew gave him a shy smile. He didn't really know what to do next, his hands laid awkwardly against his thighs. "Well you're welcome, but are you ok?" the boy shoved his hands into his pocket and rocked back on his heels while he waited for an answer, the almost worried look was gone and replaced with a look of… mock? A smirk replace the tight line and his eyes gleamed with something that Mathew couldn't quite place.

"Oh! Y-yes, I'm perfectly f-fine, thanks!" Mathew stood there stiffly and plastered a smile on his face. The white haired boy stood there looking at him for a minute (which seemed like a year for poor flustered Mathew), looking over Mathew, from his shoes to the top of his head with a confused expression. Then the laughed. He laughed, doubled over in laughter because of… what exactly? Mathew didn't know what was so funny, was there something stuck to his shirt? Is this a prank or something?

"What? What's so f-funny?" Mathew said, it came out like more of a whisper, he was positive that whatever the albino was laughing at it had to be something about him. He could feel his cheeks heating up with embarrassment and anger "W-what is it?!" Mathew said again but this time a little louder and even threw his arms out in front of himself.

The boy could hardly talk but he eventually got a hold of himself again and wiped a tear from his eye, chuckling he said "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to laugh, ok maybe I did, but anyways… it's just heh heh you stand there so stiffly! I'm not gonna bite!" After saying this he began laughing again. His laugh was odd, kind of like "Kesesesese" over and over again. Mathew slumped a little bit, that was it? He was just standing stiffly? That what was so damn funny? And now this guy is laughing about it all over again. The longer he laughed the more Mathew wanted to join in, his laugh was contagious! First smiled, then he giggled along with him and then he couldn't take it any longer and ended up laughing too.

Mathew laughed way too long and way to hard, he ended up "out laughing" the other boy.

"Ok,_ now_ what's so funny?" he asked with his hands on his hips, his ruby eyes were narrowed as he waited for an answer.

Mathew smiled "I'm sorry, it's just I-I couldn't help laughing along with you. I suppose I was s-standing there rather stiffly, you had a right to laugh."

"So you think my laugh is funny then?"

"No! T-that's not what I meant at a-all, I didn't s-say that!" Mathew frantically waved his hand in front of himself, as if to dispel the confusion.

The boy stared at him a while longer with his narrowed eyes, looking over Mathew for a hint that he was lying or making fun. Finally the boy chuckled and nodded his head "Good, because my laugh is too awesome to be funny!"

Relived Mattie nodded to agree, he didn't trust himself not to say something to upset the other boy again. Then suddenly the albino turned and started walking away "Well, glad you're ok, see you around."

Mathew watch him walk away in slow motion. There goes his first real conversation in _weeks. _Mathew watched as he walked father and farther away. Sighing Mathew turned to go but the boy called to him "Hey! I said 'See you around' so you say 'later' or something. It's rude to leave people hanging!"

"I-I'm sorry! Again… Um L-later" Mathew called out while waving his hand a bit. He laughed again as he walked away, before he rounded the corner at the end of the hall he called back "Bye, Mathew." And then the snowy haired boy was gone.

Mathew smiled to himself as he walked back to his class. That was a nice chat, even though it had no point or any real subject. Plus, the boy said "See you around!" and "Bye, Mathew."

It was nice because hardly anyone knew his name- Mathew stopped walking.

No one knew his name, how did this guy know his name? Had he met him before? No, he would've remembered those eyes. His hair was definitely out of the ordinary too! Who was that guy?

Mathew showed up late to his next class but no one noticed the blond walk in and make his way to his seat.

* * *

"You should've seen their faces! HA! The girls just love it when the boys take their shirts off- hey, are you even listening? Mattie?" Alfred stopped walking and watched and Mathew kept walking, apparently oblivious that he had stopped walking along with him. Alfred puffed out his cheeks, placed his hand on his hips and started tapping his foot, this was his 'I knew you weren't listening' stance. He has to puts this on every once and while, especially when Mattie has a bad day. The other blond just tunes him out then, completely living in his own thoughts.

"MATTIE!"

Mathew jumped and quickly turned to see that Alfred had fallen behind.

"Alfred! I'm sorry, I didn't noticed you had stopped walking, did you trip or something?" Mathew asked as he hurried back to Alfred's side. Alfred looked at him with an expression a child would wear if they didn't get the toy they wanted or daddy didn't share his piece of cake. Once Mathew was standing with him again his expression softened "Alright, out with it. What's bothering you? You haven't tuned me out like that in a while…"

Mathew sputtered and clutched onto the strap of his backpack "No, I'm f-fine! It's just I got push onto the ground today and there was this guy who asked-"

"Who pushed you to the ground?!" Alfred practically screamed as he grabbed onto Mathew's shoulders, he looked right into Mathew's eyes and waited for an answer. He knew Mattie couldn't lie to him if there was direct eye contact, Mattie cracks under pressure. Mathew only rolled his eyes and sighed "Like I know, just some people…" Mathew wish Alfred wouldn't worry so much, if he didn't he might've been able him tell him about the kid in the hall.

"Mattie, if there something wrong just let me know because I can take care of it, ok? I'm a hero remember?" Alfred gave Mathew a soft smile and playfully punched his shoulder.

"You'll be the first to know" Mathew smiled and adjusted his backpack a bit "I tell you everything remember? Now come on, I'm hungry. Let's get home already!"

Alfred chuckled and agreed, as they continued to walk home the twins talked about why women loved shirtless men so much. Alfred had much more insight on the subject than Mathew did. Mathew made sure to answer all of Alfred's questions and laugh at all the bad jokes made, anything to make Alfred forget about how detached he seemed a minute ago. No matter what subject came up Mathew tried to add a comment in and stay attentive but there was a pair of red eyes fresh in the back of his mind. He was talking about how Mathew should've seen someone's face, this made Mathew bit his cheek to help him hold in a comment. He had never really met Alfred's friends and Alfred was always saying that they just had to be introduced and how much Mathew would just love them. Not matter how many times Alfred said these things he still ignored him in school and neglects to invite him out with them. So every time the phrase "You should've seen they're face!" comes out of his mouth (and it often does) he feels as if he should point out that he could've been there if Alfred would just invite him! But Alfred has such a reputation to uphold, he knows just about everyone and has to look good in front of all of them… That's when it hit him, Alfred knew everyone! He could ask Alfred if he knew anyone like the boy he met in the hall!

"You know what I mean?" Alfred asked while giving a small chuckle "Mattie?"

"Um, yes, Ha! So anyways" Mathew hurriedly replayed "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind m-me asking you a question about your friends?" Mathew knew that he looked nervous, he tried to look a bit more casual by lifting his gaze from the sidewalk and shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. He even added a little "casual sniff". Alfred was silent for a minute, he was looking directly at Mathew now.

"You stuttered."

He stopped walking and looked at Alfred with his best "Oh? I hadn't noticed face."

"Don't give me that look, I heard you. You never stutter with me! What's goin' on Mattie?" Alfred grabbed Mathew's face in his hands and squished his cheeks together "Speeeeak, and no lying either!"

Mathew laughed and tried to get his twin to let go of his face but Alfred held fast, rolling his eyes Mathew mumbled out "I can'f speath if you squish ma face like thif." Alfred let go of his face "ok, now tell me what's up, or I'll make you explain everything with your face squished!"

Mathew sighed "Ok, I'll talk, call off the dogs!"

"No, joking Mathew!" Alfred said "I'm being serious… is someone bulling you?"

Mathew laughed "What? No, I was just going to ask if you knew any albinos."

Alfred blinked "Albinos? You mean like pale skin and pinkish eyes?"

Mathew nodded. Alfred frowned before he continued "Yeah, I do! Why do you ask? Did he do something to you?" Alfred stood with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed. Mathew wonder if maybe Alfred didn't get along with everyone, he didn't seem to like talking about this person.

"Well, when I tripped in the hall-"

"You said someone knocked you over"

"-way, there was this guy who was obviously an albino and he asked if I was ok. He noticed me… well anyways, after he checked that I was ok he walked off and said "Bye Mathew" and I was wondering if he-

"He knew your name? Did you tell him?"

"-was one of your friends. That's all." Mathew ignored all of Alfred's interruptions and looked at him expectantly for an answer. Alfred's frown deepened when his questions were ignored but answered Mattie's anyway "Yeah, I know him. His name is Gilbert and his a bit of a self-righteous ass, he's always talking about how awesome he is. It's really stupid actually… But hey, you should stay away from him, that dude is a bit of a bitch, he couldn't take that fact that we didn't want to hang out with him anymore and he pulled a bunch of pranks. Stupid pranks, but they were annoying!" Alfred went to ramble on about how he'd went into the locker rooms on the last day of school and cut up their clothes, and the time he somehow put something in his and his friend's soda to make their teeth turn green. Mathew couldn't help but smirk at each and every story, so this was the master behind Alfred's summer time misery last year. He knew Alfred had a falling out with a friend and was being "tormented" but Mattie always thought it might have been Alfred making up cover stories for his own mistakes. Their parents don't take mistakes lightly! Or at least Arthur had very little tolerance… and it wouldn't have been the first time Alfred couldn't own up to his own mistakes.

Mathew couldn't hold it in anymore and erupted into a fit of giggles. This made his twin give him a mock hurt look "W-why, Mattie! How could laugh at my misfortunes?!" Alfred put his hand against his forehead and pretended to look as if he may faint "My! Nothing couldn't have prepared me for this betrayal!" Alfred fell backwards onto Mathew, causing the smaller male to laugh even harder as he tried to support his twin's weight. Mathew laughed so hard tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Eventually Alfred stood on his own again and suggested that they hurry home before Papa started worrying.

Mathew sat on his bed, clutching a pillow to his chest, thinking about what Alfred had said about Gilbert. Mathew didn't think their friendship would really "blossom" or anything, but Gilbert had said "see you around" which means they may exchange words every once and a while so he'd need to think about whether it'd be a good idea to even let that happen. Alfred didn't even like the idea of him talking to him so it'd probably cause problems for them, seeing as Alfred would probably highly disapprove of their friendship… which means Arthur probably wouldn't like it very much either. But hey, every kid needs that friend that their family doesn't approve of right? At least Papa would always support him.

Mathew sighed out loud and said "He just said that he'd maybe see you around! Why are you thinking about this so much?" Mathew fell back onto his bed and mumbled "Maybe because no ever talks to you and this is sort of, kind of, maybe a little bit exciting…?"

Mathew laid there of a long time, trying to think of anything but those ruby eyes. He tried to draw but his drawings resembled a certain someone he was trying not to think about, he wasn't obsessive like that! Sighing, Mathew gave up on that and tried reading. Which didn't last very long, he just reread the same sentence over and over again. Giving up on doing anything he tucked himself into bed and wished to fall asleep quickly.

* * *

Gilbert sat on his bed clutching a pillow to his chest, his tangled up blankets were shoved at the end of his bed, almost spilling over the edge and onto the floor. Which would be unfortunate if they did end up on the floor considering his floor was covered in chips, they had fallen off the bed and had been scattered by Gilbert's earlier pacing.

"You know what?" Gilbert released his pillow and turned to a small gold colored bird cage set on his desk (the motion caused the pillow to fall in to ground) "I don't think he'll be too much of a problem, Mathew doesn't seem like his brother in anyway… well besides looks. They're very similar in looks. But I think Mathew's look is better!" He stood and crossed his room toward the bird cage, inside sat a small yellow bird grooming itself, and it looked somewhat like a baby chick. "Gilbird are you listening?"

The small bird jumped at the closeness of his master's voice and peeped a response. "Well good!" Gilbert smiled as he lifted the latch to the cage, letting the bird out, who immediately flew onto Gilbert's head.

"No, look here! On the shoulder!" Gilbert said while pointing to the crude illustration of Gilbird on the shoulder of his shirt "I made this for you to let you know where to sit, like a pirate's parrot!" The bird made no reply and nested deeper into Gilbert's soft white hair. Gilbert sighed "We'd look extra awesome if you'd just cooperate…"

Gilbert sat down in the chair in front of his desk and laid his arms on the table top, his head resting on his arms. Gilbird stayed stubbornly nested in his hair.

"He looked more surprised over the fact that I was talking to him rather than my awesome appearance, not that I care what he thinks, sometimes I'm just to awesome for some people to handle!" Gilbert chuckled into his arms "He was so quite Gilbird, like a little lamb." Gilbird made another peep which Gilbert took as incentive to continue "Well, he just kinda stood there, like, at attention. Like dad used to make us practice?" Gilbert tried to look up at the small yellow puff nested in his hair, but his efforts were futile and he laid his head back in his arms. "You know what I'm talking about… so anyways, he stood there all stiff, like I was some totally unawesome person trying to mug him, and he stuttered a lot. And he looked like he might've shrunken into this over sized sweater he was wearing, he looked like a little turtle in it… do you think he sounds more like a lamb or a turtle? Gilbird?" there was no response. Gilbert rose from his sitting position and walked to his closet's mirror.

The little bird laid nestled in Gilbert's white hair was fast asleep. Just as Gilbert was about to turn around and put Gilbird, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in!" Gilbert called and silently hoped it wasn't his neat freak father, he'd have a heart attack if he saw Gilbert's room in this condition. But when the door slowly swung open, it was neither of his parents, it was his little 7 year old brother.

"Ludwig? What are you doing up still?" stealing a quick glance at his alarm clock Gilbert confirmed that it was an hour past Ludwig's bedtime. Ludwig silently entered Gilbert's room and closed the door behind him, the little boy wore green button down pajama shirt with matching pants. The shirt had a breast pocket, in this breast pocket Gilbert could see a small twig poking out the top (Why he carries that around, Gilbert could never figure out) and something else neatly tucked inside. The little boy didn't say anything until he had made his way over to Gilbert's chair and sat with his legs tucked underneath himself "its 30 minutes passed your bedtime too, were both breaking the rules."

Gilbert smiled, he knew where his brother was going with this "I won't tell, if you won't tell?"

Ludwig gave a brisk nod.

Gilbert laughed, he knew Luddy probably laid in bed, restless, waiting until it was the correct time. The boys had a strict bedtime schedule and if it was ever broken there was sure to be trouble, So he waited until he had a threatening enough argument so Gilbert wouldn't tell on him.

"You waited, didn't you? That way you could make sure that if I told you'd bring me down with you!" Gilbert asked as he sat on his bed, looking over at Ludwig with a look of slight admiration. Ludwig smiled "Insurance."

Gilbert couldn't hold but his bark of laughter, he stood and ruffled his little brother perfectly combed hair, which said little brother immediately smoothed back into place. "Alright, kid. What-cha want?" Gilbert asked.

Ludwig looked down at the ground and picked at his fingernail, a nervous habit, this made Gilbert raise a brow but he said nothing. "Come on, what's up Lud?"

"Don't call me 'Lud' it makes me feel stupid! And if you really must know, I couldn't sleep and was tired of being alone." Ludwig clasped his hands together and smiled at his brother. This made Gilbert chuckle "Oh yeah right. You never get tired of being alone. What's on your mind?"

The boy looked away from his older brother and continued to fidget with his hands "You're 17, right?"

Gilbert nodded, but then realized his little brother couldn't see him and made a noise of confirmation.

"So, you know what cool is, right?" Ludwig turned his head towards Gilbert and leaned forward on his knees. Gilbert smirked "Are you kidding? I don't know a thing about 'Cool'." Ludwig visibly deflated as Gilbert walked towards him and crouched next to the chair, putting an arm around his younger brother "I don't know a thing about cool, but I'll tell you what, I'm the king of Awesome!"

Ludwig perked up a bit, he gave his brother a smile and rolled his eyes "Yes of course, now could I a-ask you a question?"

Gilbert looked a bit concerned but he nodded his head without any questions.

Ludwig's features were set with determination "Will you please look at my picture and tell me if it's cool?" Gilbert's face of concern slowly melted into one of confusion. Seeing his face Ludwig continued "You see, I have this friend named Feliciano." His faced softened "He's a little younger than me, he has light brown hair and it's really soft and he likes to talk about pasta a lot" Ludwig stared nervously playing with the hem of his shirt as he continued "A-anyways, He's really good at drawing! And he's shown me how to draw good and I've been practicing and I think I want to show him but I need you to tell me if it's cool" He quickly looked up from his hands and looked Gilbert in the eyes "I-I mean Awesome, I need you to tell me if it's awesome or not…"

Gilbert looked to his little brother's breast pocket and then back to his face. The confusing on his face was replaced with amusement, he smiled "Sure, lemme see it!" Ludwig smiled widely and scrambled to pull the picture from his pocket. He quickly handed it to Gilbert and watched his face as he carefully unfolded the perfect white square.

Once Gilbert had it unfolded he took in the colored scene: There was two little boys sitting on a hill, one had yellow slicked back hair and the other had red-ish brown hair with a curl sticking out the front of his head. They were sitting next to each other twisting flowers together, the browned haired one already had a flower crown draped over his head.

Everything was sloppily drawn but all Gilbert could do was stare at it, a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Oh my god…" Gilbert breathed and put a hand to his smiling mouth, Ludwig looked at him with wide eyes full of question. "It's so cute…"

Ludwig's face lit up with color, he snatched the picture back and began carefully folded it back up "Is not! I didn't ask if it was cute, I asked if it was cool!" he then tucked it back into his pocket and hopped of the chair and strutted to the door.

"Hey!" Gilbert said as his little brother walked to his door "I never said it wasn't awesome, it's totally awesome!" he snickered "But it is sorta girly…"

"Is not!" Ludwig pursed his lips as he let himself out of Gilbert's room with a huff.

Again Gilbert was alone, smiling to himself. Gilbird stirred and surprised his owner "Oh! Sorry little guy, I forgot you were there!" He stood from his crouching position and opened the cage on the desk, Gilbird made little tweeting noises as he placed him back in his cage. After watching his little friend settle into his bed, Gilbert, switched off his light, removed his shirt and flopped onto his pillow-less, cover-less bed. He laid on his stomach smiling to himself. _"Man, the little guy is getting so big… that picture was hella cute though… I wonder if his little friend will like it, I guess that's a good way to make friends, give em' pictures of you guys doing awesome stuff together…" _Gilbert began drifting off into sleep _"I wonder if Mathew would like a picture…?"_

* * *

**_So, this my first fanfiction and I tried hard to make sure there wasn't to many spelling mistakes or grammar mishaps but I'm sure I missed some. I plan on making this story sorta long and I'll trying to update frequently but I can't say when the next chapter will be up. Thank you for reading! _**

**_Also, in case anyone was wondering, anything written in italics means its someone thoughts.  
_**

**_I don't own Hetalia. _**


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you gonna finish that?" Alfred asked Mathew, he had been poking at his breakfast and barely eating. Mathew shook his head and shoved his plate crossed the table to him, as the plate scraped along the table top, running footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Just as Alfred's fingers touched the rim of the plate their father burst into the room.

"Mathew! Why aren't you eating? Is there something wrong with my food?" Their father Francis put the back of his hand to Mathew's forehead "What's the matter, ma petite crêpe?"

While Alfred snickered, Mathew groaned "Papa, how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Francis simply made a clicking noise with his tongue "No matter what you say I will always call you that! You'll always be ma petite crêpe!"

Mathew looked as if he may slam his head against the table while Alfred's snickers got louder. Their other father entered the room holding a tea cup, he started towards the sink but stopped halfway and eyed Mathew's plate "What's the matter, boy? Not feeling well?"

Mathew tried smiling "Nah, I'm ok. I just don't feel very hungry." Before Arthur could say a response Francis spoke "What do you mean? Is it not good?" his face of worry melted into one of hurt "Does it taste bad?"

"No no, Papa, it tastes fine! I swear!" Mathew scrambled to his feet and put his hands on his father's shoulders "It's as delicious as everything you make! It's just I don't feel very hungry…"

Arthur had put his cup in the sink and left the room after exchanging a few words with Alfred. Alfred on the other hand was slowing eating off of Mattie's plate just in case Francis started crying and Mathew decides to finish his plate to make him happy. Mathew reassured his father several times that is was just his appetite, nothing else, and he finally let him go and get ready for school.

"Mathew always finishes his breakfast" Francis said as he sat in the seat Mathew had recently left "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day…" Francis snapped his head to look at over to Alfred, who had fully taken over Mathew's plate and was startled by the sudden movement.

"What?" Alfred said with a mouthful.

"Is everything ok with Mathew? He hasn't told you about anything worrying, right?"

"Nah, Mattie is alright… But yesterday he had this conversation with Gilbert" he paused her to stuff something in his mouth and chew and shallow, while he did so Arthur came back into the room and leaned against the door frame. Alfred continued, looking from one parent to the other while he spoke "That one kid that dyed mine and Kyle's teeth green, 'member him? Well he stopped Mattie in the hall and talked to him for a bit about… about something… anyways ever since then he's been kinda spacy and stuff. I don't know why."

Alfred stood and looked at Francis "He's ok, I promise, I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him!"

He looked to Arthur who was smiling at him.

Alfred smiled widely at Arthur and then turned to Francis "I'M A HERO."

* * *

Mathew chuckled to himself as he went through his backpack and made sure he had everything he would need for his day. Every time he skips out on a meal Francis always takes it personally, he takes a lot of pride in his cooking and he thinks that just looking at his food should make you hungry beyond belief. Most times that was the case, but when Mathew wasn't hungry then he really wasn't hungry.

Arthur usually made him keep eating till Francis left the room and then he'd give Mathew a quick escape and shove the rest of his plate down his own throat, even if he was full, Arthur always covered his ass when he needed him too. That thought made him smile again.

"_Even though he's a bit distant he really does care..." _

Suddenly there was a knock at his door and the door swung open without Mathew permission. Alfred strode into his room "Hey Mattie! Whoa… so clean in here… anyways! Some of my friends are gonna pick me up and give me a ride to school, would you-"

"_Like to tag along too?" _Mathew secretly hoped.

"-Be ok walking to school on your own this time?" Alfred finished while shoving his hands into his pockets.

Mathew rolled his eyes "I don't know… I am only a little kid who can't take care of himself, I mean what happens if a dude in a van comes by and offers me candy? Or what would I possibly do if I had to… talk to people?!"

Alfred chuckled "Well that was well coated in sarcasm, alright, cut the crap, dude. You'll really be ok?"

Mathew nodded "Yeah, no one bothers me anyways. See you at school!" Mathew turned back around to "finish" his already packed bag and waited for his door to close. When Alfred finally left Mathew swallowed the lump in his throat and slung his bag over his shoulder, it really shouldn't bother him so much but it did. This time it stung. Taking a deep breathe he headed down stairs just in time to see Alfred pull out of the driveway in a packed blue convertible.

As he watched out the window Francis came up behind him silently.

"_mon enfant, don't look so lonely… it hurts me to see you looking out that window so forlorn." _

He placed a hand on Mathew's shoulder "You want a ride to school?"

Mathew turned and smiled "thanks, but no. I'm good!" He opened the front and stepped out "See ya, papa." Francis waved goodbye and watched as Mathew closed the door, made his way down the driveway and finally made it out of his sight. Francis already knew Arthur had come up behind him so without turning he said "I'm worried."

Arthur scoffed "Over what, love? The boy is just figuring out where he belongs."

"Alfred never had this problem."

"You can't compare Mathew to Alfie, they're two very different people."

Francis turned to Arthur "But, he seems like he needs someone!"

Arthur smiled "He does, but the person he needs, is not a person like Alfred. Or like me, or even you. He needs someone he found on his own" He pulled his lover in a hug "You shouldn't worry so much, that boy is smart and stable, he'll be alright."

"So we can't do anything for him?"

"The most we can do is be there for him."

"Did you see that face he made?" Francis's question was muffled as he snuggled closer to Arthur chest.

"I've seen it many times."

Francis sniffed and said that he was gonna to make some coffee then hurried to the kitchen. Arthur looked out the window, he knew Mathew was already out of sight but he wondered if the boy would come running back asking for the ride he was offered. He didn't of course. He looked at his own reflection, his looked stern and in control, but if you looked closer at his eyes you would notice that they were filled with a forlorn look. Almost lost and confused. Chuckling to himself he turned away "Yes, I have seen that face many time." he turned into the kitchen "How you can drink that black crap?"

* * *

Mathew walked through the streets, luckily they actually lived somewhat close to the school. The part that sucked most for Mathew was that he had no one to talk to and when he got to school he'd still have no one to talk to. Not to mention that it was Friday so Alfred probably won't be home until later. So he'd basically be spending the whole day alone.

Sniffing a bit Mathew realized it was going to be one of those days, one of those days you feel silly about the next day. Mathew dug around in his pocket for his MP3 player only to discover that he had probably left it on his desk, so he really would have to take this walk in complete silence. There wasn't a lot of people out in the street but he still cut through the suburbs, he's always had this irrational fear of being so unnoticeable that a driver won't see him and plow him over… Though he's never had a car not notice him, it was just nice because there was fewer driving through here. It made him feel that much safer.

It was late spring, so it was nice out but the wind could have a bit of a bite to it. Mathew stuck his hands in the pocket of his sweater and he linked his hands together. Large sweaters were his favorite thing to wear they kept him warm and made him feel a little bigger than he was, a little more noticeable. When he was younger he wore brightly colored, or extravagantly patterned ones, hoping they would catch someone's eye but it never happened. Luckily some comfort from Papa was enough to keep little Mattie smiling. When he fidgeted his hands around inside his pocket his hand brushed up against something, stopping for a moment, he pulled out what he felt so he could see what it was. It was a folded up piece of paper, but once he unfolded it he realized that it was a drawing he had made about a week ago. The graphite from the pencil was slightly smeared and the edges were a beat up, small holes were made in the fold lines. Looks like it might've gone through the wash.

The picture itself made him screw up him nose and groan. He had been trying out a new style of drawing besides his usual realistic style and he had tried to draw a cute little chibi bird. Honestly he wanted to crumple it up and throw it in the nicely groomed lawn to his right but the owner of said lawn may find it, so his artist's anxiety got the best of him and he folded it back up and tucked it away back in the pocket. He'd take care of it later. The reason he didn't like it was because he felt like it didn't even look like a bird! He lines were straight and his shading perfect but all his effort was put into a marshmallow with a beak. The little bird sat in a bird bath ruffling his little feathers, his birdy cheeks had those little bush circles and everything! But Mathew still didn't like it very much… Why couldn't it have just turned out cuter?

Mathew's school was in sight now, sighing, he picked up the pace and jogged towards the entrance. As he ran up to the doors someone called to him, and the best part was he recognized the voice. _"_Guess_ he was serious about that whole 'see you later' thing."_

"Mathew! Hey, wait up!" Called Gilbert as he ran up behind him "Man, you run faster than I thought you would! Everything ok?"

Mathew tried to seem relaxed "Um, yeah. W-why wouldn't I be ok?" but he failed.

"You were running."

Mathew laughed nervously "I-I was, wasn't I?" Mathew wondered if he was running weird, maybe it looked like he was limping or something, "_what was wrong with running?"_

Gilbert looked a bit worried "Dude, was someone chasing you or something?"

"Oh no! No, n-nothing like that. I was just running, f-for no reason at a-all" Mathew pulled his hands out of his pockets so he could wave them in front of himself. He realized he would probably be doing this motion a lot to ward off confusion, even though it didn't really help. He could feel it becoming automatic.

Gilbert looked horribly confused, his brows drew together and he pursed his lips a bit. He opened his mouth a few times as if he was gonna say something but closed it on a second thought, he turned and looked to where Mathew had come from and then at Mathew's feet "You… you were running to school?"

Mathew just smiled and nodded, he wasn't sure why Gilbert looked so confused because he didn't think he didn't say anything weird… but then again, maybe he did.

Gilbert put his hands on either side of Mathew face "You were running to school? But _why? _School is awful! I would never run to school!"

Mathew froze. He had already answered Gilbert several times in his head but for some reason he couldn't get himself to say them out loud, he was too focused on the pair on red eyes that were so close to his own. The warm hands pressed to his cheeks. Why couldn't talk? He could feel his cheeks heating up and a smile fighting its way to his face, but he could feel it coming out awkwardly.

"Um…" was all Mathew was able to get out before he was interrupted by Gilbert ripping his hands away from his face.

"Whoa, dude you look like you've seen a ghost!" Gilbert took a few step back and half heartily chuckled "Sorry, my hair and eyes are kinda weird, huh?"

"What-" Mathew started.

"Oh don't worry, it's not contagious of anything! I get asked that a lot… it's a natural mutation" He laughed nervously "I'm like apart of X-men or something… awesome."

Mathew quickly reached out and grabbed Gilbert's arm "Hey, n-no! That's not what h-happened, It was just I don't really talk to p-people often and just the fact t-that you can even see me is really exciting but never mind that, there's nothing w-wrong with you. I just didn't realize h-how red your eyes were, they're like the color of my sweater, heh, and my sweater is really red isn't it? I mean I don't think you're eyes are _overly_ red or anything, in fact, they're really cool actually. Wouldn't it be cool if everyone's e-eyes were a cool color? Yeah, t-that'd be cool and-" Mathew continued to steam out words, talking rapidly and keeping his eyes down at his feet. Once Mathew looked up and realized that Gilbert was looking at him strangely the words died on his lips and his rapid speech slowed to a stop.

Gilbert laughed and patted Mathew's head "Oh I see… So you're in awe of my awesomeness? You wouldn't be the first!"

Mathew let go of his arm and scoffed. "I'm sure." He said with a roll of his eyes. Then he quickly checked himself, realizing that he wasn't talking to Alfred "I-I mean, sorry, I'm sure plenty of people t-think you're, er, awesome."

Gilbert chuckled and threw an arm around Mathew's shoulders "so unsure." he murmured under his breath as he lead Mathew towards the doors "Come on, were gonna be late or something like that- Oh?"

Mathew watched in horror as the albino bent down and picked the same piece of the paper that was concealed in his pocket. I must have fallen out when he yanked his hands out of the pocket. Mathew stuck a hand inside his front pocket just to make sure it really was it and when he found nothing inside he screamed internally. Out of all the pictures… why that one?

Gilbert unfolded the paper and walked over to Mathew.

"Dude! Look at this, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen!" He shoved the paper inches from Mathew's face "It looks just like Gilbird! I wonder who made it…" He turned the paper back to himself and gasped "It's so cute, I swear…"

Mathew swallowed, he wasn't really sure if he wanted to admit that he made it but the way Gilbert lit up when he saw it made Mathew smile and say "Um, y-you can h-have it i-if you w-want it."

"Wait. You made this?"

"Y-yes."

Gilbert shoved the paper into Mathew face again "Really?! Oh man, this is so awesome, can I really have it? Dude, Luddy is gonna freak out when he sees this! Thanks, Mathew… so do you draw cute birds often?" Gilbert smirked as he folded the paper back up.

"N-no! No, not a-at all. I usually d-draw realistic stuff b-but I was just experimenting-"

"Just stop there!" Gilbert held a finger up "You don't need to cover it up, it's ok, birds are awesome, epically my Gilbird."

Before Mathew could clarify his usual drawing style his phone started ringing. He looked at Gilbert as he reached for his phone in case Gilbert thought it was rude to answer his phone while talking to him and started making unpleasant faces at him. Mathew brought the phone to his ear "Hello?"

"Mattie! Where are you? Pa called me and said you didn't want a ride to school, he wanted me to make sure you were ok… so are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah, i-I'm fine. Thanks A-Alfred."

"Why are you stuttering? It's just me, are you sure you're ok?"

Mathew cleared his throat "Yes, I'm s-sure I'm ok, I just got caught up with uh-" He looked around for an excuse to be stuttering, he didn't think saying he was with Gilbert would be a good idea, his eyes landed on a pot of flowers near the school entryway "Flowers! Uh, the flowers clogged my throat a bit and I had a hard time speaking for a minute t-there, ohp, I still seem to h-have some stuck In there. I better g-go find some water, Kay, talk to you later, bye!" And he promptly hung up the phone.

He knew he'd have to answer some questions later but he could handle those _later._

Gilbert looked at him strangely but didn't ask about the phone call "Anyways… while you were on the phone I thought of something I could call you!"

Mathew was secretly terrified it'd be something like 'Pansy' or 'Mcstutters' or something along those lines "y-you did? What i-is it?"

Gilbert held the folded picture up again and smiled widely "Birdie!" he announced.

Mathew felt his face catch fire, he would prefer 'Mcstutters' honesty "B-bridie? Why t-that?!"

Gilbert only smile and walked up to the door and held it open for Mattie "Well?" he asked while he motioned inside with his hand "Do you want to be late?"

Mathew could only grumble as he walked into school. What has he gotten himself into… and did he really mind?

* * *

**So, this has taken me awhile to finish. I have a very busy life so its hard for me to find time to sit down and write! but I'm glad I finally got this up for you guys... hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner then this one was. **


	3. Chapter 3

Mathew and Gilbert made their way through the crowd in the halls, they talked quietly about what each was having for lunch or what classes they couldn't stand. Simple things that were easy to talk about, and Mathew loved to hear Gilbert talk. He could make a joke about anything and wasn't afraid to put his opinion out even if it clashed with Mattie's, he also laughed a lot. His laugh always made Mathew fall into a fit of giggles too.

Gilbert was currently talking about the _completely _possible existences of aliens.

"I'm just saying, in this whole damn universe thingy, you think were the only ones like us? I mean really that's just ignorant to say!" Gilbert said while shoving his hands in his pockets forcefully "I knew this one girl and she said 'yeah? Well if they're out there, why haven't they made contact?' and I said 'you walk by a worm on the sidewalk every once and awhile and you just keep walking, you never think about how that worm's day was or even think, _maybe_, that worm is kinda interesting or anything! Well that's the same way Aliens must feel about us! Were just worms!"

"Wow, I guess t-that makes sense… did you come up w-with that?" Mathew asked.

"Uh, well actually, I saw it on the internet a few days before that but I just made it awesome! The real quote was… not as cool."

Mathew laughed "I see, w-well you did a g-good job of making it a-awesome."

Gilbert stared at Mathew, not in a shocked or angry way, not even surprised, in fact there was almost no emotion on his face. The little traces there was Mathew couldn't name which emotion it might've been because it was gone in a flash. Finally Gilbert and smiled widely "Thanks, Birdie!" and clapped him on the shoulder.

They fell back into their comfortable conversation and continued walking through the halls. Mathew decided not to think too hard about why Gilbert had looked at him like that or what it could mean, so he just played along. Unfortunately they passed by an especially rowdy group of people, Gilbert side stepped out of the way but Mathew, who was too busy laughing at a bad joke to be paying much attention himself, walked straight into the group. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to, he got caught up in groups like this all the time. His main concern was whether or not Gilbert had noticed him being held up, he didn't want Gilbert to just walk away without knowing Mathew wasn't with him. So the elbows in his ribs and a book or two being knocked against his head went relatively unnoticed.

It wasn't a really big group or anything so he came out the other side pretty quickly. When he saw Gilbert standing in the middle of the hall looking at him with a horrified face he smiled, so he did notice him being held up.

"Sorry, about that, what were you saying about scrambled eggs?"

Gilbert looked after the group and then back to Mathew "Why didn't you say anything? They didn't even say sorry!" He lifted Mathew golden hair away from his face "Luckily the books didn't leave any marks! How can you just take that?"

Mathew blinked "Well they didn't do it on p-purpose, there's no need to hold a grudge."

"Wh-what? What do you mean they didn't do it on purpose!? They could plainly see you, they were just being a bunch of-"

Mathew laughed "Whoa t-there, calm down. They didn't see me, no one really notices me u-unless I try really hard to g-get their attention… which is just u-useless to try to do b-because my social skills suck." He said with another laugh "But its ok, it h-happens all the time!"

Gilbert let his hand drop to his side "All the time?" he asked quietly. Mathew only smiled and nodded, he didn't really see the big deal, and he was tough. He could handle being jostled around a bit, even though he looks thin and small he could actually take a hit. A good hit. But he could be easily tripped, sometimes he tripped over his own feet. Which is why he was so easily knocked to the ground.

"That's messed up! Why don't you ever do something to stop it? Do you want me to go talk to them?" Gilbert said rather loudly. Mathew was afraid to ask him to keep his voice down because the way Gilbert was clenching and unclenching his fist ways a bit unnerving.

"N-no, thank you but no. I'll b-be just fine, Gilbert, your concern is t-touching… now come on, we need to g-get to class." Mathew nervously chuckled when Gilbert seemed reluctant to follow him and kept looking the way the group had gone "Gilbert?"

"I'm coming, sorry…" Gilbert walked along side Mathew "I just think people should watch what they're doing is all, picking on the weak is for the _weak_."

Mathew only chuckled quietly and put his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. Then after a stretch of silence Mathew piped up "Well, i-if you go after them… wouldn't that make you weak?" Gilbert raised a brow.

"W-well I mean," He ran ahead a bit so he could walk backwards in front of Gilbert "They picked on the" he paused to add in air quotes "weak… t-then wouldn't that make them w-weak? And if y-you went after them, _and they're considered weak,_ then t-that would make you weak t-too!"

Something flashed in Gilbert's eyes and a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth "Would you look at that, I talk to you for less than an hour and you've already unraveled my personal motto," he paused and a slow smile took over his face, his smirk bloomed into wide childish grin "Awesome!"

Mathew couldn't help his smile from widening, though he wasn't entirely sure why he was smiling, there was just something in Gilbert's eyes that made him want to smile as wide as he possibly could.

For a little while Gilbert just looked at Mathew with that smile stuck on his face, which this made Mathew giggle, and then suddenly he poked Mathew cheek and said "Were gonna be late! Come on!" and he started walking again. He walked faster than he had before so Mathew had to jog to keep up, Gilbert's stride was longer than his. They got to Gilbert's class first and with a bit of disappointment Mathew started to say goodbye but Gilbert interrupted him "No, Birdie, you say goodbye if I move to out of the country or if I get lost at sea… For now, you say 'See ya later, you awesome super cool dude!'"

Mathew laughed and patted Gilbert's shoulder "Sure, whatever… See ya, you kinda cool dude!" and he headed off to his class. Gilbert stood watching Mathew go. He smiled to himself as he opened the classroom door _"You didn't stutter that time." _

* * *

Gilbert tried to catch Mathew again so he could talk to him more all though no matter what he did he couldn't find him, so while mentally beating himself up for not asking for his phone number he started walking home. He turned down his street and stopped in his tracks. Why was his mom home so early? Her car is in the driveway. He quickly hurried into the house, the only reason he could think of why his mom being home this early was that something had happened to Ludwig. Whether it was good or bad, he wanted to be there.

Bursting into his house, Gilbert got the attention of his… mom's secretary?

"What are you doing here?" he asked while slowly letting his backpack drop from his shoulder.

"Nice to see you too, kiddo. I was just getting Ludwig from school, there was a mishap with the buses so everyone had to pick up their kids, but your mom was too busy to put her work down so I took her car and went to get him" She smiled but there was no warmth in it, it was like looking a dead fish "You're welcome."

Gilbert put on his best fake smile "Thanks, Carol! But you don't need to hang around, I've got Ludwig from here."

She stood from the couch "Yeah, I'm going. But listen, you brother has a friend over. I didn't know if it was ok but he knocked on the door and little after we got here, Ludwig seemed so excited for him to be here so I just let him in. So you got two little potatoes to take care of!" she smiled so sweetly it made Gilbert wonder if she was getting some sort of enjoyment out of this… He wondered if she thought two kids was too much for him to handle. Mentally scoffing he waved his hand around dismissively "Sure thing, I've had to deal with worse!"

Shrugging she pushed past him to the door "Whatever, kid. I was just letting you know the situation" looking over her shoulder she smiled as she opened the door "Bye-bye now."

After she had closed the door behind her Gilbert wondered why she had called them Little Potatoes. Ludwig didn't look like a potato, maybe this other kid did?

Gilbert walked down the hall towards his little brother's room and knocked. The excited voices inside suddenly hushed into whispers and door slowly swung open. A small boy stood there looking up at Gilbert. He was wearing a pair of red pants and few sizes too big light green tee-shirt, he kinda squinted up at him and his mouth was puckered in a confused expression.

Then something caught his attention, a curl sprung out from the front of his groomed head, he also had two pink hair clips holding his hair out of his face. _"Wait, is this-?"_

"Gilbert," Said Ludwig as he came up behind the other boy, he had his fists full of colored pencils "This is my friend Feliciano, the one from the picture."

Gilbert looked back over to Feliciano, he had grabbed Ludwig's sleeve and was now smiling "Call me Feli!"

His voice was higher than Gilbert had imagined but it had a sweet tone to it, he could probably sing very well.

"Hello, uh, Feli? It's nice to meet you!" Gilbert crouched in the hallway next to the boys "Are you guy having fun?"

Both of them nodded at the same time but Feli nodded with much more enthusiasm than Luddy's quick nod.

Gilbert shrugged and stood "Ok, you kids have fun, no running with scissors and yeah" Gilbert called over his shoulder as he made his way to the kitchen to find something to eat. He could hear Ludwig huff and mutter "We would never run with scissors, were smarter than that!" and Feli reply with "His eyes are red!" before he heard the door shut again.

Gilbert found some left overs in the fridge so without reheating them he sat at the table and began picking at it. He was still upset at himself for not getting Mathew's number, why didn't he ask for it before he left?

"_Maybe because he was too distracting?" _

Choking on his food a bit Gilbert tried to figure out what he meant by that. Mathew was distracting because he was smart and interesting to talk to… not because he looked adorable in oversized sweaters or because his large violet eyes, or even because of the way his face turns pink when he calls him Birdie.

No, nothing like that.

He could hear the boys erupt in a fit laughter and chuckled along himself, that was a nice sound to listen to.

After he finished picking at the cold casserole and placing it back into the fridge, he picked up his backpack from the floor and made his way to his room. When he walked pass Ludwig's room he could hear Feliciano giving detailed instructions on how to make flowers. Smiling to himself again, Gilbert opened his bed room door and walked inside. He threw his backpack into the corner of the room and flopped down onto his bed. He tried to think what he was most upset about: Not getting Mathew's number or babysitting two kids. Well, the only thing he had to worry about when I came to the boys was make sure they didn't kill themselves. That's not too hard. He could hear Ludwig's irritated tone and then Feli's higher-soothing tone replying. He wasn't actually upset about watching them but for some reason he was a little offended that someone made that decision for him. Then there was Mathew.

He just knew he would be nothing like Alfred but he didn't think he'd be so right! Even though they were twins it was hard to believe that they could stand being under the same roof together, they seemed like polar opposites in Gilbert's opinion. He liked that Mathew had sarcastic moments. He liked how Mathew held him back from those jerks without even having to touch him, just talking to keep him in his place. There was moments when he'd say something somewhat personal and then laugh nervously, like he regretted saying what he did. Not to mention the way he could draw! Gilbert couldn't draw even if his life depended on it and here this boy was nervously offering him his master piece just because he could! Gilbert pulled the picture that Mathew had giving him out and unfolded it, he looked over all the holes in the picture and the smudging lines. It was still awesome. Hopping off his bed he walked to the golden cage sitting on his desk and popped open the door to the cage.

Gilbird Fluttered out and onto his head, automatically shuffling around to make a more comfortable place to rest.

"Gilbird! Look at this!" he held the picture up so the puff ball resting in his hair could see. Even though he couldn't see Gilbird he knew that the little guy was flapping his tiny wings and he could hear the delighted chirps.

Sometimes it seemed as if Gilbird doesn't understand a word that Gilbert says, like a brain dead stuffed animal, but then other times the bird was as intelligent as himself. Showing emotions with his tweets and wings. He could even pull off an offended look.

"Mathew made it! Like, with his hands… isn't it amazing? He just gave it to me!" Gilbert regaled his little bird with his stories of his day. He ended up sitting on his bed with the yellow puff still nested in his snowy hair.

"-and I don't know Gilbird… I mean he's really nice but I don't know if I'm smart enough to talk to him, and by that I mean maybe I'm to awesome. I mean this kid got _trampled_ in the halls and he just brushed it off like 'Yeah, what?' or something like that. Do you think he got hurt? Because if he did he sure didn't show it. He _demolished _my personal motto today, _he came in like a wrecking ball_ and just BLAM, it was gone… and I'm not even mad, he was so sensible about it… He also thinks I'm awesome, I mean everyone thinks I'm awesome but this guy thinks I'm awesome so that's cool_-_"

There was a soft knock on the door and Gilbert called for them to come in.

Ludwig cracked the door open "Hey, there's someone on the phone for you…"

Gilbert stood from his bed and followed Ludwig into the hall "What have mom and dad told you about answering phones by yourself?"

"They say not to… but they also say not to take your bird out of your room."

"I won't tell if you won't tell?"

"Yeah ok."

Gilbert ruffled his little brother perfectly combed hair (which caused Ludwig to franticly fix his hair) as he pick up the phone and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello, Gilbert speaking." He wondered who could be calling, if someone wanted to talk to him they'd just call his cellphone.

"_Hey Gilbert."_ A woman's voiced said, a woman he had just recently said goodbye to.

"Carol? Why are you calling?"

"_I'm just trying to deliver a message, did you turn your phone off? I couldn't reach you-"_

Gilbert felt sheepish as he remembered shoving his phone in the pocket of this backpack, the same backpack the lay neglected in the corner of his room.

"_Anyways, your parents won't be coming home tonight. They haven't given me a reason but…" _She drawled out her last word to give some emphasis.

"Oh ew… why would you even say it like that?"

"_I said nothing 'like that', kid" _she chuckled _"You got that all on your own." _

So after saying a quick goodbye and hanging up he turned to find both the boys were standing behind him waiting for him to finish. Feliciano held Ludwig's hand and swung their hands back and forth, Ludwig stood rather unbothered by the others actions.

Feliciano spoke "I need to go home… Will you and Luddy walk me? It's scary out there!"

Gilbert almost didn't say anything. _"Did that little shit just call my Luddy, Luddy? Why isn't he freaking out like he does when I call him that? Why does he get the right to call him Luddy? I made that up, that's mine. He can't use it without asking permission, it's like copyright, kid. Look it up, you can get in serious trouble for using someone else's ideas. You wanna go to jail? Hm? Luddy is my thing, why aren't you yelling at him not to call you that? Why are you just standing there holding his hand? What's going on?" _

Both boys blinked up at him with curious expressions on their face.

Gilbert quickly collected himself and smiled "Yeah sure."

And with that Gilbert made sure Gilbird was still in his hair and they all gathered their shoes and began the long walk to Feliciano's house… which 6 houses down from their own.

* * *

Mathew hummed happily as he opened the front door to his house. Since it was the weekend he decided to go to the ice cream shop and get a cone, it'd be ok for him to return home a bit late like Alfred dose. Which took longer than he thought it would, it was hard to get the salesman's attention. Even that didn't damper his mood though.

He was glad him and Gilbert were becoming fast friends.

He crunched on the last of his cone as he entered the kitchen. Francis was sitting in one of the chairs reading a novel, most likely of the romance kind, waiting for him. Or at least it seemed as if he was waiting for him because as soon as he entered the room he slammed his book closed and launched himself at his son, wrapping arms around him and speaking things in French. Mathew caught most of it but sometimes he doesn't quite translate it correctly. He was almost positive that he was rapidly saying that he'd "always be here" and he ever needed anything just "ask papa." Shortly afterward he finished his rant he began to sob into his shoulder and squeezed Mathew tightly.

Mathew stood stiffly in his father arms for a minute before he began rubbing his back and making soothing sounds. Which made him cry harder. Mathew glanced around the room to see if there was any hints to what brought this on but nothing helped.

Suddenly Alfred walked into the kitchen with Arthur at his side, both froze at the sight. Alfred snickered at the sight but was elbowed by Arthur, which made Mathew giggle.

"Ahh~ ma douce Mathew, such a beautiful laughter you have…" Francis said between sobs.

Mathew stood there completely clueless while his other dad and brother had a look on their face that obviously meant they they knew what this was all about. So after some more consoling and words off affection Francis agreed to go and take a shower or lay down, Arthur followed him up the stairs.

Alfred snickered as he approached the stunned Mathew "If dad is following papa then I can guarantee they'll be nothing relaxing goin' on."

"Ew! Alfred what the maple?" Mathew said disgusted. This made Alfred snort and laugh "Dude chill, no need to cuss..." He must have made a really funny joke and Mathew missed it because he erupted in even more laughter. Mathew was going to respond with a witty comment but instead asked "So… do you know what that was all about?"

Alfred's laugh died almost instantly "Uh, yeah I actually do" he moved and sat at the kitchen table "He was worried about you again."

"But why? There's nothing to worry about…" Mathew sat in the chair opposite to Alfred and looked at his brother expectantly, waiting for a more sufficient answer.

"Look, he offered you a ride. You didn't want it. I called you to check up on you and you were really weird. Then you come home late? He told me about your face when you left for school today, he said it look like _sad and forlorn, _so basically depressed. Yeah and anyways, when I called you and you shut me out… I still want answers for that by the way, you were acting hella weird… Well he worried even more" he crudely imitated Francis's accent "Ah! My small pancake! What is wrong with-a you? You never shut Alfred-o out like zat! Please lemme love you, b-b-y" or something like that. So he thought it was REALLY BAD or something and so he called me home early and decided that we were gonna go to a nice place to eat tonight as a family… but _you were late home. _He thought you jumped off a building or something!" Alfred was trying to be funny, trying to seem nonchalant but it was obvious he was upset and worried too.

Mathew could feel the guilt clogging his throat "I never meant to make papa feel like that. You were all worried? Aw man, this sucks… I've have to say something, something reassuring, right? It's kinda hard to believe you guys thought I'd killed myself or something, I know I've got problems… you know I've got problems… but my problems aren't that bad!"Mathew sat there waiting for Alfred to answer but he simply looked at him, as if waiting for him to say something else.

Mathew looked down at his hands, back to Alfred's bright blue eyes and back down to his hands "I'm… Listen, Alfred. I'm sorry."

When he heard Alfred chuckle he looked up to his brother's now smiling face "It's a good thing you are, thanks, but I think you should say it to Papa, not me."

Mathew quickly nodded and stood.

"Whoa, dude. I was serious about the whole "nothing relaxing goin' on" thing. Give him some time." Alfred laughed "Man, I'm so damn funny... but one more thing Mr. Suicide."

Mathew narrowed his eyes the hurtful 'joke' but stayed to hear what Alfred had to say.

"Why were you so weird when I called?"

Mathew smirked and started to leave the room, throwing his answer over his shoulder "I was with a friend."

* * *

**I GOT THIS CHAPTER UP WAY QUICKER THEN THE OTHER ONE, I FEEL VERY SUCCESSFUL! but I'm gonna be honest right now, I have no idea what I'm doing. lol I'm just going with it. So tell me what you think and thank you for reading! Also, I'm really sorry if there any mistakes, I tried to do a good job making sure there wasn't any buuut... there could still be some.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

The electric clock on the stove clicked to 2:34 am, Mathew was tucked in his bed fast asleep. As he had been for the past hour. Arthur fell asleep watching a chick-flick with Francis trying to cheer him up, they were still tangled up in a blanket snoring on the couch when a pair of feet tiptoed down the steps at 2:35 am.

Alfred padded through the kitchen towards the fridge.

He shivered a bit when he opened the fridge, not because he was wearing only a pair of boxers, socks and a zip up jacket he threw on as an afterthought (which of course he didn't zip it up), but because he thought it would a necessary action to do if he was in a movie.

"_The handsome Alfred slowly opened the fridge…" _he narrated in his head, even though the truth was he flung the door open and caught it in his other hand just in time to keep it from banging against the wall to keep it silent.

"_He scanned across the potential snacks he could choose from, a nice cold Cola sounded hella nice. But then again the American cheese was looking pretty fine too!" _Alfred did this with every item in the fridge, everything from milk, Arthur's left over scones (no one has touched those) to the raw fish still waiting for Francis to make it something magical. He continued to narrate his entire kitchen experience until he ended up sitting on the table drinking a cola.

"_And now Ladies and Gentlemen, I will reflect on his day before heading to bed…" _He looked down and the can of caffeinated soda "..._Eh, bedtime sooner or later that is… ok let's see, my day started out pretty normal. Went to school, hung out with some friends, hit on some girls and so on. The usual. The day only became really interesting when the idea of my baby bro killing himself was presented, well he's actually only 4 minutes younger but whatever… as I was saying-" _Alfred took a gulp of his soda and winked towards and imaginary audience member _"- I returned home earlier then I usually do on the weekends to my papa fretting about what restaurant we'd be going to. You see, my papa was worried about Mattie and he believes that food brings everyone together, and fancy restaurant makes it even better because you getting waited on like a king! Or something like that…" _

Taking another sip finished off Alfred's soda, he made a metal note to drink these thing slower and started back up the stairs. He continued explaining to his "audience" that Papa believed that Mathew was going through a hard time and a little family time might've made him feel better. So when Mattie was late it made him worry. And the afternoon dragged on and still no Mattie. So his ever "level-headed" father jumped to the worst possible situation and was convinced Mathew had thrown himself off a building, the only thing keeping him from flying out the door and searching the city for his son was his husband. Arthur, the actual level-headed one, reassured over and over again that Mathew would never be so rash to take his own life.

"_It's actually a funny story. You see, after Dad ordered pizza and we all sat down to eat, Mathew explained everything! Turns out he actually just went to an ice cream shop after school, well that's what he told the parents… but me…" _at that moment he walked past Mathew's room, the door was slightly ajar so you could see Mathew sprawled out on his bed with a crumpled paper in his clenched fist _"He told me…" _Alfred continued as he slowly enter Mathew's room, the paper in his hand had peaked Alfred's curiosity so much he couldn't possible turn away now! Why would someone hold onto a piece of paper while they slept anyways? _"That he was-" _He carefully pulled the paper out of Mattie's grasp and unfolded it _"with a friend!"_

An extremely realistic picture of Gilbert stared up at Alfred. At first he thought I was a photograph but on a closer inspection (and holding it up to the moonlight coming in through the window) the graphite smudges and a slightly too wobbly line of Gilbert's shirt hinted otherwise. Alfred frowned.

"_Why would Mathew draw a picture of Mr. D-bag? Didn't he ask about albinos recently? Actually, yes he… he did!" _Alfred looked at the sleeping face of his brother, as if searching for an answer or a clue.

But then is hit him. He said he was out with a friend, so this "friend" must be Gilbert. He didn't know if it was ok to be angry but he did feel a bit betrayed, didn't he warn Mathew about what a jerk this guy could be? He told him the stories, right? Why else would he draw a picture of Gilbert if he didn't mean something to Mathew?

Standing up Alfred crumpled the paper back up (as quietly as he could) and placed it on the ground where it might've fallen if Mathew had "Dropped it in the night."

Silently he walked back to his room. He wasn't sure how he felt about this.

Gilbert did have a good side but he had a much larger ugly side and Alfred knew it well. He knew Gilbert well… But then again when was the last time Alfred heard Mathew use the word friend when talking about anyone else besides himself, when was the last time he went to do something after school besides mope around the house, when was the last time he actually acted like he was enjoying himself and his smiles didn't seem so forced? When was the last time he was actually happy?

Alfred knew Gilbert was trouble, he knew he was gonna hurt his Mattie, and he was gonna wait for that. He was gonna stand by and be the person Mathew needs him to be right now, his brother. He liked to see Mathew smiling and feeling happy but he knew the hurt would come eventually, and when it did… He'll be the shoulder to cry on for Mattie and the force to be feared for Gilbert. He didn't want to be that guy that screamed "I told you so" or the one the resented him for being happy now, no, he'll wait until he was needed.

"_Keep him happy and I won't fucking kill you, and I will fucking kill you if I have to…" _Alfred finally settled into bed. He thought for a long time about Mathew possibly being friends with Gilbert. He still knew something bad would come out of this but he wasn't sure he wanted to wait till it did, it was true that Mathew did seem a bit brighter but was that really going to worth it? Then again, maybe Gilbert wouldn't be such a jerk to Mattie. It would be really hard to be a jerk to someone like Mattie, considering Mathew was so soft spoken and accepting. _"Man, thinking about this stuff has made me tired..." _

Alfred thought that this would be a good time to go to sleep, maybe he'd talk to Mattie about it tomorrow. Mattie always knew what was good for himself, right?

* * *

Mathew sat on the living room floor eating waffles drenched in maple syrup while watching his parents sleep. Now I know how creepy this sounds, but he had a reason for doing this. Something that he always wondered about is how these two hadn't divorced yet.

It's not that they hated each other but sometimes Mathew wondered if they really did loved each other… And then they did something like this and it just proved that they weren't a couple based off of sex and hate like Alfred sometimes made it out to be, jokingly of course but it still made Mathew wonder. When then did things like this it only showed how much they cared for each other, all curled up on the couch that barely fits one person laying down comfortably. Neither of them wanted to move to the bedroom, they wanted to sleep wherever the other was sleeping. Mathew had started eating his second waffle when Arthur slowly opened his eyes.

He spotted Mathew sitting on the floor eating waffles, totally aware he's been caught and still nonchalantly continued to eat with a small smile.

"So, h-how long 'ave yew been spyin' on us?" Arthur slurred out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"About twenty minutes."

"Oh that's not creepy at all…"

"Yep, like a father watching his baby sleep."

"Ok," Arthur chuckled "You made it creepy, lad."

Mathew only chuckled a bit and stood "I'll put the pot on to boil." He called over his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen.

Arthur smiled and said "What a brilliant boy you've become…" and snuggled closer to Francis, who was just waking up.

Alfred stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen and made a B-line to the fridge, which made Mathew giggle.

"What? Did you wake up hungry as a moose?"

Alfred only grunted as he dug through the fridge, apparently on a mission. Francis and Arthur entered the kitchen at the same time, rubbing their sore sides or achy shoulders, Mathew could swear on his life that the sound of a whistling tea pot and the bubbling sound of coffee brewing called them in. Eventually, they all sat at the table together. Alfred and Mathew had plates of waffles in front of them and the parent were slowly sipping their hot drinks. Alfred was the first to speak once they were all seated.

"So, how'd you two sleep?" He chuckled "You guys looked so cute it was gross."

Francis smiled as understood Alfred's humor, he took it as a compliment. But the tried Arthur maybe didn't get it or was just happy for a reason to mess around with his son, he raised an eyebrow and responded "Actually we slept quite well, we were very worn out…" then he smirked "I'm surprise we didn't wake you."

Mathew cringed and Francis slapped Arthur on the arm while (most likely) cussing in French.

Alfred on the other hand, well, he lost it. "DEAR GOD DAD WHATS WRONG WITH YOU I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT JESUS I'M MOVING OUT MANS THAT WAS MESSED UP SO GROSS DUDE I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER BE THE SAME I'M DYING CALL 911 HELP…. HEALP MEH MATTIE"

Mathew was laughing as he helped lift Alfred off the floor. Alfred had thrown himself out of the chair once he started his rant, but if you ever laughed so hard you could feel yourself getting abs, then you'll know you aren't much help to anyone. So Mathew ended up on the floor next to Alfred laughing until he had tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

Not to mention that because of Mathew hysterical laughter, everyone else found themselves laughing as well. Eventually everyone got ahold of themselves and they all continued eating their family breakfast. As they ate Mathew stayed quite, like he did in most situations, and only contributed to the conversation if he was asked about his opinion and such. He mostly thought about Gilbert. Some Albino who happened to see him be trampled by a group of students and only wanted to see if he was ok but once he was done with that he also made sure that Mathew had uttered the word "See you later", just to be sure they would actually see each other around.

Then the second day they were together they talked for what seemed like days, but in reality it was just about an hour or so before classes. He got so defensive over Mathew when those kids shoved him around it made Mathew feel like he was actually cared for, actually considered and wanted. Though he could've just been trying to be a good person, it still made Mathew feel good. Mathew had tried drawing him last night, not in obsessive creepy way or anything, but in the way an artist admired nice things. The only way an artist like Mattie could express his admiration was through his art, which meant staying up late-ish trying to get Gilbert's hair just right, but as the night wore on his skills began to fail him as the tiredness settled in. Feeling frustrated and a bit inadequate, Mathew climb into his bed and fell asleep quickly. Maybe if he drew a picture that was a good show of his skills he'd give it to Gilbert to prove he wasn't as into the Manga style as Gilbert thought. Though there was nothing wrong with the Manga style of drawing, it wasn't his style and he wanted Gilbert to know that! So breakfast finished up and Mathew made his way to his room to get ready for his day, it appeared there was some sort of fair going on and Francis was still determined to get that family time.

* * *

Gilbert hung upside off his bed, he had already showered, dressed, eaten and the clock had barely just turned 10:00 am. He should be sleeping but for some reason he just couldn't go back to sleep, why would he be awake at this time anyways? It's the weekend for crying out loud! Even Gilbird was still sleeping in his cage.

He could feel his toes beginning to go numb from all the blood rushing to his head, he took that as a sign to sit up. When he did, the world swam and there was a painful spike in his stomach but those symptoms only lasted a second until he was just left with a lightheaded feeling. He chuckled to himself and made a mental note not to hang upside down that long again. He also made a metal note to hang upside down longer than he did this time to beat his own record, which was 32 minutes. He was utterly bored, he had no idea what he wanted to do. He could call one of his friends and the go to the arcade but the friend he wanted to call, well, he'd forgotten his ask for his number like an idiot. An awesome king idiot.

He wondered if Mathew was upset about not getting his number too. What if Mathew really didn't care? Gilbert pouted at that thought, it would really suck if Birdie didn't enjoy hanging out with him as much as Gilbert like hanging out with him. A knock sounded at the door, pulling himself from his thoughts, he opened the door. It was Ludwig and he looked _very_ excited.

"Hey, Luddy, what's up?" Gilbert asked opening his door a bit wider to let Ludwig in.

Ludwig took the invitation into the room, but instead of going to the chair like he usually did, he stood directly in front of Gilbert and grabbed onto his pants "Momma said she's gonna take us to the fair! The real fair! All of us as a family, even daddy will be there! Get ready, get ready, were leaving soon!" and with that Ludwig dashed out of his room and into his own, most likely to get ready himself. Gilbert smiled to himself when he heard Luddy's excited chattering from inside his room, as weird as it may sound, Ludwig often talked to this small twig he carried around. He found it one day when they were going on a hike before his parents worked so often. He's had it ever since.

Even though Ludwig was a very smart and grown up boy for his age, he didn't actually have a lot of friends. Well now he had Feliciano so Gilbert wondered if he'd forget about his little stick friend.

Pulling on a pair of shoes, Gilbert began to mentally prepare himself for a "Family activity."

I wasn't that he resented his parents in anyway, he was a big boy and was grateful for all the money they were bringing in for the family. Ludwig went to the nicest school in the state and Gilbert got whatever was on his birthday list but sometimes he wished his parents were around more. Not for him, he was already grown up and didn't need anyone (Because don't you know that all boys are grown up by the age of seventeen?), but for Ludwig. The way he got excited whenever they were going to do something always made Gilbert a bit sad inside, he shouldn't be this excited just to be going on an outing with their parents.

He tried not to think about too much because then he might actually start to resent them, when they were only doing what they thought was best for the family.

Sighing, Gilbert made his way down stairs. _"Don't snap at them, they don't deserve it. They mean well. Just look how Luddy is clutching mama's shirt and smiling, this is a good thing. You don't need to protect Luddy from his own parents, chill out big bro. this is going to be fun and good, this is going to be fun and good. Make it awesome!" _

Gilbert smiled when he remembered Mathew saying "_w-well you did a g-good job of making it a-awesome."_

If he could make an internet quote awesome then he sure as hell come make a family trip to fair awesome! Right?

"Ready to go?" his father asked, his voice was deep and frankly, intimidating. His father was tall and muscular, his blond hair was graying slightly and he had small, thin folds just barely forming on his aging face. He wore a white button up polo and a pair of think blue jeans, his hair was slicked back like Ludwig's.

Gilbert smiled and nodded and looked towards Ludwig and his mother. Ludwig was wearing a pair of green overall shorts and underneath that was a black shirt, he had chosen to wear his black boots. He looked a bit like a little army man with his hair slicked back and that outfit.

Gilbert's mother was smiling down at the boy clutching her skirt and chattering excitedly about the fair. Her long blond hair fell over her shoulders which was kinda weird to see considering Gilbert almost always saw it in a bun. She wore a faded yellow skirt that went down to her ankles and it was spotted with blue flowers. She wore a blue long sleeved button up shirt and had rolled the sleeves up. The buttons on the shirt were positively pearly. They looked like the perfect family, like something you'd see in a department store magazine. Gilbert took a deep breath and smiled as he followed them out the door, he tried not to think about how much he stood out in their happy family group with his red eyes and snowy hair, not to mention his black skinny jeans and graphic tee-shirt that had a chick stuck to a magnet on it and the text "Chick magnet."

He walked towards the car but his mother called to him "Oh, Gil dear, we'll be walking to the fairgrounds. You see, we never get to go on walks anymore and since the fairgrounds aren't too far away I figured this would be a good opportunity. Don't you think?"

"Great idea, Ma." Gilbert said as he joined his family on the sidewalk.

* * *

Mathew smiled as Alfred ran out of the Ferris wheel line in which they were waiting. He watch as he ran to one of his friends and greeted him with a belly bump, efficiently knocking him to the ground, and then doing the same to the two other teens that were with him. He kept that smile on his face as he regretted his decision to tell Alfred that it was completely ok for him to go hang out with his friends and leave him in the line. He promised to meet up with him in forty five minutes or so, Mattie thought he could wait that long. He continued to smile as two people cut him in line. It was still on his face when another person cut in front of him, and another. And another. And another.

This was supposed to be a family trip, right? And yet his fathers' spent money on some fair game, determined to win a teddy bear. They spent so much time there that they finally agreed to let the boys go off and ride some of the rides. Mathew almost made it on the Ferris wheel before Alfred found someone else to hang out with. Moving out of the line, Mathew sat on a picnic table set out in front of a concession stand, he still smiled when he saw Alfred get in line for the Ferris wheel with his friends even though he could feel a lump forming in his throat. He could go home now, the only person who would notice would probably be Francis.

Sighing he stood up and decided he would just send a message to his dad, considering he was the only one who checked his phone frequently, saying that he hadn't felt well and went home, he'd send it once he was on his way home. That was they couldn't beg him to stay, he'd be able to use "already halfway home" as an excuse. Walking towards, the exit something caught his eye, something that made him decided to maybe stay just a little bit longer.

* * *

Gilbert roughly shoved his hands into his pocket as he escorted two, yes two, little boys through the busy fair. While on their way here they noticed Feliciano and his mother were outside playing in the front yard. The parents hit it off at once, they talked for a solid 20 minutes before Ludwig piped up about the fair. Feliciano about had a heart attack once he realized there was a fair running, Ludwig and Feliciano begged for what seemed like hours to let them go together but Feli's mother couldn't leave the house with her mother inside. Feli's grandmother was old and forgetful, the type of old lady that would find a way to impale herself on a couch cushion. So their parents offered to have the Gilbert take the boys ahead to the fair and they would stay to chat over some offered sun tea, promising to meet them there in less than thirty minutes. Ludwig and Feliciano walked ahead of Gilbert, happily talking about what ride to go on first, what treat to eat, what prize to win. Gilbert couldn't help but silently thanking his parents for giving him some money before he took off, because the boys sounded like the wanted to buy out the whole damn fair. Gilbert didn't really mind watching them, as he's stated before, he honestly didn't mind little kids. He just didn't like people making decisions for him, but the two little boys holding hands ahead of him kept him from being too sour about it.

A group excited people shoved past him with a quick apology and nearly shoved the boys over, without an apology to them of course, they were just kids after all.

After asking if Feli was ok, Ludwig started after the group in a very displeasured state, Gilbert got the impression that Luddy planed on giving them a piece of his mind. Laughing Gilbert quickly scooped up both boys and placed them on his shoulders, they refused to let go of each other's hands so they stayed linked just underneath Gilbert's chin. Ludwig began to protest and began to remind Gilbert of his fully functioning legs, but Feliciano seemed to be having a blast. He squealed with delight and demanded that Gilbert go faster. After a moment of silence, Ludwig followed Feli's example and decided to join in. In a much more subdued way but still joining in nevertheless.

"_That's right, little guy, you best check yourself and have some damn fun. I'm working hard here to make sure you two don't get trampled, ok? You two aren't light either. It'd be easier if there was two of me-" _ That's when Gilbert spotted someone could help, someone who he nearly ran to once he saw him. Now Gilbert was excited.

"Birdie!" Gilbert shouted as he jogged towards Mathew. Maybe this would be more fun than he thought.

* * *

**So, I actually liked this chapter. What did you guys think? I'm sorry if there's any mistakes, I tired to make sure there weren't any but its hard to catch them all! I'm also sorry this took so long, I FEEL VERY BAD, but I'm trying. So anyways, thank you for reading my story and I hope you liked it! I will try to have the next chapter up soon-ish. **


	5. Chapter 5

Ludwig held tightly to Feliciano's hand as Gilbert picked up his speed to meet another boy who was standing ahead of him. It was that blond again. Which was funny, because Ludwig was sure that Gilbert wasn't talking to the obnoxious boy anymore.

"Birdie!" Gilbert shouted. Ludwig looked over to Feliciano who was madly giggling with one hand tightly squeezing Ludwig's and his other buried in the snowy mass onto top of Gilbert's head. Directing his attention back towards the blond they were running to Ludwig quickly realized that it wasn't the person he first believed it to be. This person looked somewhat similar to who he was thinking but this boy was slightly shorter. His hair was also a lighter color. The boy stood somewhat awkwardly, kinda like he was trying to make himself seem smaller than he already was. He wore a large red sweater with a large front pocket and blue jeans, but they were tight against his legs like the pants Gilbert likes to wear.

"Hey, birdie!" Gilbert said excitedly once he reached him, he was slightly panting.

"Hey, G-gilbert, what are you doing here?" Birdie asked.

"Oh I'm here with my brother Ludwig…" He paused to shrug up the shoulder Ludwig was sitting on so the other would know which little boy he was talking about "… and his bro, Feliciano." He did the same shrugging motion with the other shoulder, making Feliciano giggle "Say hi, boys. Where are your manners?" Gilbert asked as he let the boys down to the ground again.

Feliciano rocked back and forward on his heels as he shyly waved up at the blond "Hi there…"

Birdie smiled at Feliciano and returned the greeting.

Ludwig stood with his hands behind his back and waited until Birdie turned his attention to him, once he did, Ludwig extended his hand "Hello, Birdie, It's nice to meet you."

Mathew giggled as he shook the other smaller hand, while Gilbert erupted in laughter "oh my- Luddy! His name isn't Birdie! That's just what I call him, his real name is Mathew."

Ludwig blushed as Feliciano joined in the giggling. How was he supposed to know that Birdie wasn't this guy's real name when Gilbert was screaming it crossed the fairgrounds?

"Gilbert, don't you know it's not nice to l-laugh at other people?" Mathew asked as a jokingly wagged a finger at Gilbert, he then returned his attention to Ludwig "its ok, you can call me whatever you want! I don't mind."

Feliciano pushed against Ludwig so he could have Mathew's attention too "Ve! Can I call you, Birdie too?" Mathew laughed as he agreed and Feliciano continued to shower Mathew in questions. While Feliciano talked a mile a minute, Ludwig realized something, Mathew's eyes were an extraordinary color. There was probably no one else with lavender colored eyes that sometimes shined blue depending on the way the way the light hit them. Ludwig was in a bit of awe as Feli talked on, only when Gilbert distracted them with the prospect of winning a goldfish at a fair game did they both direct their attention elsewhere.

Ludwig wondered how Gilbert met Mathew, he usually didn't hang out with people like this. Not to mention that if Mathew wasn't talking it seemed as if he simply walked away, Ludwig found that he often had to look around for him only to discover that he was standing next to him the whole time. He stuttered often, it made Ludwig wonder if he had a condition or something. And what an extraordinary problem it was to walk through the crowds with Mathew, Feli had noticed that he was constantly being bumped into and shoved around, he whispered his discovery to Ludwig.

"I think Gilbert should put his arm around Mathew to protect him!" Feliciano whispered to Ludwig, while they walked slightly ahead of the older boys.

Ludwig frowned as he led Feliciano along by his hand "B-but they're boys…"

"Yeah, and?"

"And boy aren't supposed to do that!"

Feli stopped walking and lifted their linked hands to shove them in Ludwig's face "Ve?"

"Oh…" Looked at the linked hands for a second "I guess it doesn't matter, huh?"

"Nope!" Feli looked at the gold fish he won in his other hand "He looks sad…"

"Your goldfish?"

"No, Mathew."

"Oh, you think he'll be ok?"

"I don't know, but I hope so!"

Ludwig and Feliciano continued walking and secretly wished that Gilbert would do something so Mathew would stopped being shoved around. They both found they had a soft spot for the older boy.

* * *

Mathew sat at a table with the boys and Gilbert, Feliciano had taken a strong liking to Mathew and leaned himself against the other boy and yawned. Ludwig was trying very hard not to lean on the table and show how tired he really was, he was determined to make it to the Ferris wheel.

"Are you guys sure you aren't too tried to ride the Ferris wheel?"

Both boys shook their head and sat up straighter to prove that they really could handle it. Before he could answer, Gilbert's phone beeped. Pulling it from his pocket he opened up the delivered text message.

"Sounds like mama and dad are finally on their way, boys, but since they spent so much time with Feli's ma they'll be coming in the car to pick us up to take us home…" Gilbert's voice slowly died out at the end, he was quite for a moment and then suddenly cleared his throat "A-anyways, they'll be here shortly… so let's hurry up and get to that Ferris wheel!"

The boys cheered and jumped from the bench they were sitting on. Mathew checked his phone, he had no messages from either Arthur or Alfred, but there was a message from Francis. It wasn't anything elaborate, if fact it was extremely simple, it was just a heart emocon and short message in French saying that he loved him. Before he turned off his phone, Mathew checked the time. It was only 2:45. _"Kids get tired quick I guess, even if they eat they're weight in cotton candy… I wonder why Gilbert seemed so disappointed to be leaving the fair, maybe he wasn't ready to leave without riding the coaster…" _He thought with a smile, it reminded him of something Alfred would whine about.

"Mathew!" Feli called "come on! Let's go!"

Mathew laughed as he stood from the bench along with Gilbert, they followed after the boys.

"Sorry about this, Birdie, I know I just kinda automatically assumed you'd be cool being my babysitting bro. I guess probably wasn't so fun, huh?" Gilbert asked sheepishly. Mathew stole a glance at him, his pale skin was slightly flushed. His eyes were shifted away from Mathew as he awaited a reply, Mathew guessed he might be new at this whole apologizing thing, and from what Alfred said about him, he wouldn't be surprised if his guess wasn't too far from the truth.

Mathew laughed "Are you kidding? It was way better then what I was gonna do! I'm having fun."

Gilbert lit up "You are? Man that's awesome! I thought maybe I would look lame, if that's even possible..." He laughed and clapped Mathew on the back "So you'll help me with all my baby sitting jobs?" he asked with a smirk.

"As long as I get some of the pay." Mathew said with and equally as mischievous smirk. When Gilbert's stomach flipped he about screamed but instead kept his cool, _"that… that was a strange feeling… why did that just happen, wait, what did Mathew mean by 'some of the pay'? Was that a… flirt? Or I'm I just being hopeful- EXCUSE ME SIR YOU JUST MET THIS BOY A FEW DAYS AGO YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW."_

"S-so what were you gonna do i-if I hadn't shown up?" Gilbert asked with a cough.

Mathew gave him and odd look but answered anyways "I-I…. I was going t-to go home…"

"But why?"

Mathew laughed nervously "W-well… My brother saw some of his friends and he asked if he c-could join them and I felt bad for running h-his Friday yesterday so I said yes… Then people kept cutting me in line, f-for the Ferris wheel actually, so I just g-got out of line after the fifth person or so. My dads' are here somewhere too actually-"

"Dads'?" Gilbert interrupted.

Mathew paled and averted his eyes "Uhh, Y-yes… M-my dads' a-are homo-… Well they are-… they're g-gay…" He laughed nervously and shoved his hands into the front pocket on his sweater.

It took Gilbert a minute what Mathew just said, he didn't have a problem with it at all… but why did Mathew tell him it as if he just revealed what color his underwear was, not something as simple as having same sex parents. "Oh, well that's cool." Gilbert said and placed a hand on Mathew shoulder and smiled "That's really cool, ok?"

Mathew searched Gilbert's face for a sign of a lie. Of a joke. of anything to hint that he was making fun of him. But there wasn't anything like that there.

Mathew smiled and nodded, unsure if he could even begin to express his thankfulness for Gilbert's acceptance. Once they were in line Gilbert spoke again.

"I'm glad your brother ditched you."

Mathew frowned "Um, w-what?"

"Because if he didn't I might've missed you, walked right past you on accident, and I wouldn't have this awesome time with you."

Mathew couldn't even speak, he knew his face was on fire, he was pretty sure you could fry an egg on his face. Gilbert only laughed.

By the time they got to the front of the line the younger boys were wide awake, Feli was jumping up and down and singing an improvised song about Ferris wheels. Ludwig (though his excitement wasn't as apparent) had trouble staying still. Shifting his weight from one foot to the next and fiddling with the buttons on his overalls showed his not-so-obvious excitement. The man took the money from Gilbert.

The boys were helped into their seats and helped to secure the safety bar. They laughed as the Ferris wheel turned so more seats could be filled. Mathew and Gilbert loaded into the next seat.

"Are you scared of heights, Birdie?" Gilbert whispered as the slowly rose upwards. Mathew smirked "Are you?"

"Of course not, I'm too awesome to be scared of something that's supposed to be fun!"

"Then I'm not scared either." Mathew said as the last seat was filled. The ride started turning, slowly gathering speed. They boy's laughter could but heard from the seats above them, sometimes you could catch Ludwig asking Feliciano not to squeeze his arm so tightly.

"Hey, look, that's my parents waving at us…" Gilbert pointed and gave a half-hearted wave down to his parents. Mathew looked in the direction the Gilbert pointed, and sure enough, they was a huge crowd down there and Mathew had no idea which pair of people they could be. Nearly everyone was waving up the people on the Ferris wheel.

"W-where? Gil, I can't see them." Mathew said as he searched the crowd for anyone who resembled Gilbert.

Instead of answering his question, Gilbert asked one of his own "Did you just call me Gil?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, it just slipped out, I didn't m-mean to…" Mathew covered his mouth to stop himself from talking and lifted it for a second to repeat "Sorry" before clamping it back over his lips.

Gilbert chuckled "It's ok, I don't mind it. I mean… if I can call you Birdie then you can call me Gil or whatever you…" Gilbert coughed and averted his eyes "You can call me whatever you want."

Mathew watched Gilbert look of in the distance "Hey, Gil?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you looking at?"

"I, um, I'm looking at…" Gilbert looked back at the direction he was looking before quickly searching for something to _look at_ "I w-was looking at that…er, that cloud! At that fricken cloud! It looks like a bird, yeah?"

Mathew looked in the direction he was pointing "Gilbert, there's clouds everywhere…" he laughed "It's like trying to pick your parents out of that crowd down there!" he said as he gestured to the people below. Before Gilbert could answer the ride stopped. Not at the bottom. Not near the bottom. But right at the top with both Gilbert and Mathew looking around for an explanation. Looking towards the control box they discovered a man, who was being yelled at, rapidly pushing buttons. Another worker with a megaphone aimed it towards the Ferris wheel and announced "We're very sorry for the sudden stop but it seems we've had a bit of a malfunction. We should have the ride up and running in a few seconds!" she then turned and aimed the megaphone at the crowd "Once we get these folks down we won't be running the ride anymore today! We don't want anyone getting hurt, were sorry."

The crowd began to slowly dissolve into just a few people standing there watching for the outcome.

"Uh…" Gilbert started "the blond woman yelling at the girl holding the megaphone, that's my mom, aaaaand… the blond man holding said mama bear back, is my dad. So now you've met the whole family!" he seemed relatively un-phased by the situation but he did quickly develop a habit of looking behind them at the cart Ludwig and Feliciano occupied. Ludwig was hugging Feli and patting his back to try to calm him down. Feliciano was not handling this as well as Ludwig, he was crying into Ludwig's chest and he had his arms wrapped tightly around the other boy. It was clear he was scared but honestly you have to give him credit for not going into full on hysterics.

"Birdie? Are you doing ok?" Gilbert asked while poking Mathew cheek "You haven't said a thing since this ride stopped."

Mathew blinked as if he just woke up "W-what if the cart t-t-tips? We'd die, Gilbert, die! Don't move, stay still…" Mathew sat as stiff as a board "Tell the boy not to move either."

Gilbert patted Mathew shoulder and laughed "Uh, dude, I highly doubt that gonna happen. For quite a few reasons: One, This ride, although broken down, is very safe, So unless you throw yourself over the edge nothing is gonna happen. Two, It looks like they're getting it running as I finish this list…" Sure enough the ride slowly started to descend to the ground "See? All good. I didn't get to finish my list but, I'll say the last reason anyways. The last reason is, I'm awesome."

"What did that have to do with why the ride wouldn't kill us?" Mathew asked as his grip on the safety bar relaxed.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I'm just awesome." Gilbert said as if he meant what he said on a very serious level. It made Mathew laugh. Once they were all on the ground the workers wanted everyone to stand still so they could check for any injuries, but that was finished, Ludwig ran to his parents dragging Feliciano behind him, demanding that they make him feel better and to buy them something sweet to eat. Feli immediately peaked up at that idea.

Gilbert went to assure his parents he was alright and told Mathew to wait for him. As soon as Gilbert walked away Mathew climbed down the platform. He landed solidly on the ground and someone was violently pushing their way through the crowd towards him. At first he was a bit worried for himself but then he heard "oh mon petit bébé doux, êtes-vous d'accord? Je vous ai vu là tremblant comme une feuille! Ma petite crêpe, j'étais tellement inquiète!"

Mathew knew exactly who was approaching him and shoved through the crowd to meet them halfway. As soon as he saw him, Mathew exclaimed "Papa!" and readily accepted his father's embrace. He wasn't that scared but a hug was definitely welcomed, even if his father was spewing out mushing stuff in his native tongue. Arthur came up behind Francis and ruffled Mathew's hair "Good to see you're ok, lad. How'd that happen anyways?"

Francis stepped away from Mathew so he could listen to Mathew's explanation as well but kept a hand on his shoulder, as if he didn't Mathew would float away into the sky.

"As far as I know, electrical malfunction. but everything turned out ok, and it wasn't even that scary."

Arthur spoke "Hm, I see… We had just finished the house of mirrors and were coming to ride this thing here…" Arthur pointed a disapproving finger at the Ferris wheel "But when we saw people on the stage being checked out we asked some bloke what was going on. By time he'd finished explain that the ride just stopped for no apparently reason, Francis spotted you up there." He linked a hand with one of Francis's "He about had a heart attack."

Mathew smiled at his parents "I'm ok, 100% completely ok. Nothing happened up there, it was totally safe!"

Arthur nodded and Francis still seemed to be unconvinced, Francis spoke in English this time "Well, your brother called us and said he'd tried to win a pie eating contest and he accidentally bit his finger. Its pretty bad, he showed us a picture… he's waiting in the car with some napkins so we came looking for you and-" this time Francis gestured to the ride in disgust "thing happened… but we need to go, your brother is hurt!"

"Come along, Mathew." Arthur said as he started leading his husband out of the crowd.

"Ok, one second! I need to grab something." Mathew said, scanning the crowd.

"We'll meet you there, don't take too long, boy." And with that they exited the crowd.

A hand landed on Mathew shoulder and Mathew turned.

"Your parents seem nice." Gilbert said with a smirk on his face.

"Ah! Gilbert! Prefect, ok listen. I have to go my brother bit his finger and he probably needs stitches or something so I have to go now but…" Mathew dug around in his pocket for a piece of paper, and luckily he had a pencil in there too. _"Good job, Mathew, never leave home without art supplies!" _He thought to himself as he jotted down his number "this is my number, use it if you want and hey! If you don't want it burn it or something! Oh and tell Feli and Luddy I said bye" Mathew walked away from Gilbert backwards as he talked "also I'm really glad you don't understand French and it was a lot of fun… today I mean… well every time we've been together, oh and your hair is messed up, don't feel bad though, it was probably just the wind and… you know what? I'm gonna just go before I act like an idiot, well more than I am now… ok, bye!" and with that Mathew quickly turned and dashed from the crowd, to the exit, into the parking lot and to where his family's car was parked.

He threw himself in the backseat next to Alfred and as soon as his seat belt clicked the car started moving. Arthur was scolding Alfred for not being more careful and Francis seemed to be still recovering from one shock after another. So Mathew, yet again, sat in silence. He honesty wanted to throw himself out of the moving vehicle, why did he say those thing to Gilbert? _"Just burn it if you don't want it? Your hair is messed up? I'm glad you can't understand French? Man that was very… very smooth Mathew, real good job saying goodbye back there. Five gold stars without a doubt, two sarcastically enthusiastic thumbs up! God… someone please drown me in maple syrup." _Looking over at Alfred's thumb he noticed it was pretty chewed up, maybe he didn't notice he was eating thumb? He was probably holding the pie tin to his face and didn't realize it slipped in. Suddenly Mathew's phone buzzed.

* * *

Gilbert got into the car with his parent and the two little boys, luckily they were small so they all fit into the backseats pretty comfortably. He thought about Mathew's odd goodbye.

He found himself smiling as he remembered the small frazzled bould digging in his pocket and pulling out sketching supplies. He smiled wider when his fingers brushed against the paper he'd stuck in his pocket. He nearly laughed when he thought about Mathew rapidly talking at the end, saying that he was glad he couldn't speak French, and how his hair was messed up. Gilbert could help the small chuckle that escaped his lips, this part was just too amusing! "_Burn it if you don't want it, he says! Like I'd ever do that! I'm so awesome I got his number without even having to ask for it! I'm so awesome he wanted to give me his damn number, yeah, bottom line, you did well."_

He pulled the paper from his pocket and put the number into his phone under the name (can you guess?) Birdie. Then he began to write a message, a simple short message.

**_"I actually can understand French."_** He pressed the send button and tucked the paper back into his pocket. He patiently awaited his reply, he couldn't wait.

* * *

**I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! also, here's what Francis was saying at the Ferris wheel part, I figured someone might be wondering what he said:**"Oh my sweet little baby, are you alright? I saw you up there shaking like a leaf! my little pancake, i was so worried!"

**I used fricking Google translate for that so sorry if its incorrect in anyway! As usual, I'm sorry for any spelling of grammar mistakes but thank you for reading! I'll try to get another chapter up soonish... yeah, soonish! One more thing, I'd like to clarify that Gilbert's parents and Carol (the mother's secretary) are made up. They're not anyone from Hetaila or anywhere else (as far as i know) so yeah... End of really annoying another note!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Alfred held bloody napkins to his chewed up finger, the ride home wasn't too long but it was long enough for the flimsy napkins to become nearly soaked. He didn't think that he'd bitten that hard… "_Stupid pie… no, what am I saying? I love pie!"_ Alfred smiled to himself as they pulled into their driveway. Arthur began instructing Alfred to disinfect his finger but Alfred was hardly paying attention to his father's words, he was too busy looking at Mathew, who was holding his head in his hands. Francis caught note of this as well.

"Mathew? Are you ok?" Francis asked as he opened Mathew's door for him. This seemed to snap Mathew out of his trance and he sprung out of the car.

"What? O-oh yeah, I'm totally cool…. So chill." Mathew went to lean his arm on top of the car's roof but his arm slipped and he ended having to catch himself from falling. He tried again to lean against the car and succeeded this, he smiled to his father "Heh, yeah, so chill…"

Arthur had his eyebrow raised "What did I miss? What's wrong with ya Mathew?"

Mathew stuttered as he tried to think of an excuse, it's not that he didn't want to tell his family about Gilbert, it's just he didn't want to admit that his father's French baby talk embarrassed him. That might hurt Papa's feelings.

"I-i-I just…. I'm, well… I'm… I'm worried ABOUT ALFRED! YES! A-about Alfred! His finger, blood, oh no, worried! Yeah ok, hurry everyone! Inside we go to… uh… tend to Alfie's wound?" Mathew smiled at everyone as he walked past them "Yep! Come on now!" He gestured to the door as he opened it "E-everyone inside."

Slowly everyone filed in, each with his own face of confusion but none of them asking any further questions. Once inside Arthur help bandage Alfred thumb and Francis stood outside the operating room (A.K.A the bathroom) giving Arthur "tips" on how to "properly" bandage a finger. Mathew on the other hand, snuck upstairs to his room.

Quietly closing his door behind him, Mathew walked lightly to his bed and sat down on the edge. After taking a deep breath Mathew franticly fished his phone out of his pocket.

"_Ok… please, please, PLEASE! Tell me I read that incorrectly. He said 'I don't understand French.' Or 'why would should I not know French?' or even 'What are you talking about? I totally didn't hear your dad gushing out sweet pancake nonsense or anything'…. Please?" _

Mathew opened his messages. His eyes scanned the message a few times just to be sure. Taking another deep breath he set his phone onto his bedside table, grabbed a pillow, brought the pillow to his face, and screamed. Mathew fell backwards onto his bed just as his bedroom door flew open.

"Mathew!" Arthur exclaimed as he rushed to his bed side, and honestly Mathew was glad it was this father. Francis would've fussed too much.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked as he removed the pillow from Mathew's face. Mathew pointed to his phone. Curious, Arthur reach for the phone and powered it on. After a second he look at Mattie again "Who? Who can understand French? And why does it make you scream?" Arthur had returned to his usually calm self once he realized that it was just another "Teenage" problem.

Mathew sat us and spoke "My friend, my only friend actually. And dad, he was at the fair! And you know what? He HEARD all that stuff that Papa gushed out at the Ferris wheel!" Mathew fell back on his bed and covered his face once more "He understood it all. I'm must look like such a loser." Mathew said through the pillow "I'm so L_aaaa_me"

Arthur snorted "Are you telling me that your father baby talking you is embarrassing?"

Mathew shot back into the sitting position and threw the pillow to the floor "Don't tell papa."

Arthur took a second to stop laughing before he replied again "No worries, boy, I'm sure being called a pancake at the age of… let's see, how old are you now? Alfred is sixteen almost seventeen that would make you…?"

"Dad, were twins remember?"

"Oh yes, right… uh well anyways my point is that unless you're three that nickname is plenty embarrassing!" Arthur leaned in and whispered "No worries kiddo, I'm sure he'll stop one day."

Mathew eyes widened "Really?"

Arthur snorted again "Heck no! He'll always call you that for sure." Mathew's shoulders slumped, which made Arthur laugh again "Listen here, Mathew, if this person-" Arthur thrust the phone into Mattie's hands "-is your real friend then I think you can do a little explaining, a quick subject change and everything will be forgotten! That's how friendships work."

"R-really?"

"Eeyup! Good luck, Mathew… I'm gonna go tell Papa that you were watching a scary video." Arthur stood from the bed and walked to the door.

"I don't scream at scary videos… that's Alfred's thing…" Mathew mumbled as Arthur closed the door.

Mathew sat with the phone in his hands starring down and the keyboard. Mathew thought about how he should explain it, if he should give the whole story of a quick summary, if he should use emo-cons while texting, would Gilbert make fun of Mathew's texting style? Would he make fun of his childhood story? Probably. But should he care? Mathew dropped the phone into his lap.

"_Ok, Mathew. You got this, no need to blow this out of proportion. He's a cool guy and will totally understand, he'll probably think it's great and laugh and god how I love that laugh… I mean, like its, well it's just fun to listen to is all." _Mathew could feel his cheeks heating up _"I meant nothing by that!" _

Mathew quickly picked up his phone and began mashing the buttons. Once he was finished he reread the message to make sure there was no spelling mistakes. Closing his eyes, Mathew pressed the send button, and then immediately regretted it.

"Why did I say that?" Mathew fell back onto his bed "That's it, I'm done, I'm not ever moving from this spot of defeat and stupidity."

The words of his text repeated in his head _**"Well this is awkward. My dad has been calling me that my whole life, well, since about the age of 2. I was two years old when I was left at the breakfast table alone (something happened to my brother and my parents ran to save him or something) and I ate everyone's serving. We were having pancakes that morning. So I ate about 8-10 pancakes that morning, I even drank the syrup bottle. The whole thing. So my dad likes to call me his "sweet little pancake" or his "baby maple" because of that. He uses it very often because he fuses over the smallest things, such as a Ferris wheel malfunctioning… Has anyone ever given you a nickname?" **_

Mathew pinched the bridge of his nose and rolled onto his side. He was sure that he was making this a bigger deal than it was but he didn't care, he could freak out over a tiny thing if he wanted to! Mathew's heart stopped beating when his phone buzzed in his hand.

Slowly he brought the phone to his face and opened his messages, Gilbert's message read: _**"nicknames? hmm, let me think… you call me gil and I had this one girl call me a jackass, a dude called me sweetheart, and another dude at the mini mart called me snowbunny (I think he was gay for me lol) but no… not really any real nicknames. But I should probably tell you I don't really speak french, but thank you for translating for me, the back story was nice too!" **_Mathew could see Gilbert red eyes shining with mischief in his head. He'd probably be snickering and look awfully proud of himself for being so clever. Mathew was… to be honest, he thought it was funny. Though he was a little upset he didn't feel angry or anything. He found himself laughing to himself and smacking his forehead. Mathew began typing another message as he chuckled.

"_**I'm not even mad." **_

Gilbert replied quickly _**"good! you shouldn't because that was awesome, pure awesomeness! I was like a secret agent getting information from the enemy!1!" **_

Mathew found himself laughing even harder _**"Yeah, whatever… If I didn't really want you to know then you wouldn't know at all!" **_

"_**What? Yeah right! Ya know, I still read these messages in your stutter-y voice" **_

"_**D-d-dose this m-make it m-more l-l-l-life like?" **_

"_**Please stop" **_

Mathew laughed at nearly every text gilbert sent and continued to text Gilbert until there was a knock on his door.

Alfred peered inside "Psst, hey bro, can I come in?"

Mathew welcomed Alfred in and shoved his phone in his pocket.

Alfred sat on the bed next to Mathew and looked sadly at his thumb "Look at this! I bit my own thumb, how lame is that? I bet my friends are laughing about right now as I speak in this moment right now." Alfred wiggled (as well as he could with all the bandages) his thumb "This is the lamest finger ever!"

Mathew laughed "Are you kidding? It's so… uh… Metal!" Alfred look at Mathew in surprise "When did you learn slang, Mattie? You usually talk like an old dude."

"Rude, Alfred, rude."

Alfred ruffled Mathew's hair "Aw come on! I'm only joking little bro! Now, how is this in any way cool?"

Mathew rolled his eyes and crossed his arms "I'm not telling, you were rude to me" he wasn't actually offended, but Alfred didn't know that. "What? Man, I said I was just kidding! I'm sorry, Mattie!"

Mathew snickered "It's 'Metal' because you bit your finger."

Alfred gave Mathew a questioning a look.

"AND YOU DIDN'T FEEL IT." Mathew said dramatically "You like were eating a pie and you were so into it you didn't even feel the pain!"

It took Alfred .6 seconds to cheer up and get into gloating "Hell yeah! You're right! I'm like… dude, like a hero! A super hero who doesn't feel pain as long as he has a pie around! That would make an awesome comic…" With sudden realization Alfred grasped Mathew's knees (startling Mathew) "DUDE I COULD TOTALLY MAKE A COMIC! I gotta go Mattie! I have some ideas to write down!" and with that Alfred sprung off of Mathew's bed and rushed out of his room, slamming the door behind him.

Mathew shook his head in a loving manner, sometimes his brother was just too easy to please.

* * *

Gilbert wondered what happened to Mathew, he had been answering his messages quickly and suddenly he just stopped. Gilbert tried to not feel abandoned because he knew Mathew actually got along with his family, so maybe he just got caught up in a conversation with one of his dads or maybe Alfred stole him.

"_Stole? Really Gilbert? Possessive much? He's his brother so it's totally ok for them to have a conversation… brothers' talk!" _

Gilbert stood up out of his chair and left his room. _"Brothers' talk all the time!" _He walked down the hall towards Ludwig's room. He opened the door without knocking and found Ludwig sitting on his bed reading one of their father's favorite books. Ludwig looked up from his book and gave a questioning look to Gilbert "yes?"

Gilbert didn't speak until he'd planted his bottom at the end of Ludwig's bed, he sat cross legged and held onto his ankles. He sat there starring at Ludwig trying to figure out why he was here. What was he going to talk to Luddy about? Ludwig stayed silent and waited patiently for Gilbert answer.

"How was your day?" Gilbert mentally congratulated himself for coming up with such a casual topic starter.

"Well, you took me and Feli to the Fair, remember? You were there."

Gilbert could feel his cheeks heat up, he felt stupid "Uh… Did you have fun?"

Ludwig's confused expression softened to a small smile "Of course I did, it would've been better if mom and dad actually decided to show up. Though I'm not exactly surprised." Ludwig said casually as he continued to read "They have a record for being kinda flakey."

Gilbert was surprised that his brother seemed so ok with this fact, just talking so calmly about how their parents are 'flakey'. Ludwig looked up from his book to see Gilbert's surprised face "What? Do you not think so?"

Gilbert shook himself back to reality "huh? No, no, I totally agree… I just didn't know if you noticed it."

Ludwig smirked "Why do people always see children as naïve and stupid? We're not all that baby-ish you know. We notice as much, if not more, of the stuff that you do. We're not unobservant animals!"

Gilbert laughed "Where's this coming from? Is it because I won't tell you where babies come from?"

Ludwig slammed his book closed "I don't see why you can't tell me! Are they shipped from a country we're at war with or something? Is that why mother won't order me a little sister?"

Gilbert laughed even harder "A little sister?"

Ludwig angrily scowled at his brother "YES! A little sister that I can take care of, like you take care of me… and that way..." Ludwig's angry quickly dissipated and his voice slowly became a whisper "That way we could have a girl around the house. Someone who's good with fashion and pets, someone who would help me make cakes and cookies. Someone who'd give this place a homey feel…"

Gilbert couldn't laugh, he could hardly speak. The way Ludwig looked at him and the way his big eyes glistening with tears, it made Gilbert want to scream. Scream and break stuff. Yell at his parents. But instead he stayed calm and silent. Ludwig continued before Gilbert could say anything "I know you miss them too."

Gilbert smiled "Whatever you say kiddo, come here-" but before he could finish Ludwig launched himself into Gilbert's lap and snuggled into his chest, it made Gilbert remember that Ludwig was only seven years old, though the kid could talk big, he was still just a kid.

Finally Ludwig crawled out of Gilbert lap and sat back into his spot on the bed and picked up his book. Gilbert smiled softly at his brother, Ludwig returned the smile and made a shooing motion with his hand. Chuckling Gilbert got up and left his room, before closing the he pushed it open again and leaned back in "Psst, kid?"

Ludwig looked up from his book "Yeah?"

Gilbert smiled widely "I looooooove you!" Gilbert closed the door just before the pillow hit his face, through the closed door Ludwig shouted "I don't need your mush!"

Gilbert waited until he was back in his room before he burst out in laughter "What a cutie!" He continued to laugh as he fell onto his bed. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

And when he was finished he wiped a tear from his eyes.

He wiped another, and another, and soon enough there was no stopping them. He clutch his pillow as Ludwig's words echoed in his head _"I know you miss them too."_

He chuckled through his tears "Guess kids are pretty observant."

* * *

It was late and Alfred had stayed awake to try and finish this game he had been playing. He needed something to distract him. He thought back on a particular part of his day, the part when his father informed his that it would be a few minutes before they started home because Mathew had to say Goodbye to a friend. What sucked most about this, is despite not getting a description from either of his parents, Alfred was almost positive that the 'Friend' was Gilbert. Then earlier when Alfred went to see Mattie he was actually texting someone. _"The only person Mattie texts is me… so that's mean Gilbert got his number somehow. I'm sure Mathew wouldn't be so stupid to just hand over his number." _

Alfred paused his game and stared blankly at the screen "Oh god…" Alfred whispered to himself "Actually maybe he would! Since Mathew is so desperate to be like me and have friends he might just do anything Gilbert told him to do! Like give him his number, or worse, rob a bank!"

Alfred dropped the controller in his lap "Mattie is in trouble I think…" Alfred covered his face with his hands "Ugh, but he looks so happy! Why can't I just be enough?"

Sighing Alfred rubbed his face _"chill out, big bro, this isn't about you. It's about Mattie. But that fact doesn't make it any easier to just sit and watch! It's like watching this cute little bear skip towards the edge of a cliff, but its chasing a butterfly and it's just so damn cute! You can't stop that, that little bear is so happy!" _Alfred Gasped "Wait!"

Alfred stood up and started pacing with his hands behind his back, something he'd always saw Arthur do growing up. After sometime he stopped and smiled widely with his hands on his hip "Or, instead of stopping the bear we just redirect the butterflies flying patterns. We make the butterfly believe that if he flies over the cliffs edge then he will plummet to the ground along with the bear…" Alfred's smiled widened "This should be fun, I just have to figure out Gilbert's intentions with my little brother and if they're evil then… well, I make him change his mind."

He was gonna be a hero.

* * *

**So, I'm not really sure about this chapter, but I hope you guys like it! Thank you for reading and sorry if there's any mistakes. **


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